Through the Darkness
by WhiteWolf815
Summary: Stolen. Beaten. Broken. We couldn't recall much about our past. Family and love were foreign concepts to us; we only knew the pain of failure and the next mission. When we escaped, however, the world nearly swept us away. But someone saved us. An amnesiac alien robot named Jazz. Now for the greatest adventure of all: finding family and meeting the Autobots. This is insane. SSxOCxSS
1. Prologue: The Tests Begin

The story I am about to tell you is a difficult one to believe. There are heroes and villains, titans, gods and monsters. They are what shaped an epic future and made for this unbelievable tale. But as with all fantastic endings in life, there will be trials and tribulations, suffering and pain, that shape this tapestry of life that the Fates created.

It all began with the Cube. No being knew exactly where it came from, only that it held an immense power, to create worlds and fill them with boundless life. But as with all great power, some had less than favorable intentions for it while others wished to protect it from hostile intentions.

That is how the war began. On a planet called Cybertron, inhabited by a race of metallic titans, war began to ravage its surface until the entire planet became a lifeless husk consumed by death. The Cube, launched off world in a final attempt to save it, was lost to the far reaches of space. The remnants of the dead planet scattered across the galaxy, searching in hope of finding it and rebuilding their home. Far and wide they searched, sometimes waging war with their foes across the far reaches of the universe.

For many long ages they searched, hope slowly beginning to seem lost after so many ages of countless searching and coming up empty handed. Then, by some miracle, a new discovery was called to their attention, to an unknown planet to called Earth. But they were already too late. Someone else had it.

* * *

 **Prologue: The Tests Begin, The Beginning of Rebirth**

The sky was blue and clear. The winds swept gently through the grass like a lover's caress, and the temperature was neither too hot nor too cold. It would have been a perfect day except the peacefulness was shattered by the terrified screams and cries of two children that rent the air.

"Mommy! Daddy! Help!" The little blonde-haired girl screamed. Tears streamed down her beautiful angelic face as the intimidating men in dark suits dragged her and her brother away from their beloved parents.

Both of them fought and kicked with all their might, but their captors just held them tighter.

"Daddy!" the child wailed again.

"Hang on! Daddy's coming!" a sandy-haired man called, racing towards them from the far end of the street, and brutally shoving the leather-clad men out of his way. Anyone who tried to stop the man was sent flying, bowled over in his mad dash to get to his children.

But it was already too late. But even at his current pace, it was obvious that it was no use; the man would never reach his children in time to save them.

The golden-haired siblings bravely tried to fight against their captors, kicking, screaming and fighting, but it was too little effect. Their valiant attempts at resistance proved to be useless since they were too small to do too much damage. The masked men just held them firmly, allowing the two no leeway to escape.

At the other end of the street, opposite from where the man had come from, a big white van stood idling, waiting for the hired kidnappers as they hauled the children toward it.

As soon as they got close enough, the back doors swung open revealing two more lackeys covered from head to toe in leather and holding guns. The men holding the children tossed the youths in first like they were goods instead of living beings, unceremoniously shoving them into the dark interior of the waiting vehicle.

As the two managed to whirl around, the last image they saw before the doors sealed shut and cut off all light, was their father's terrified gaze as he seemed to mouth the words, "Wherever you are, I promise I will find you!"

A wet cloth was forced over their noses and mouths.

"I love you!"

Then all went dark.

* * *

In a dimly lit room filled with multiple screens and monitors, there stood a man. In the faint light of the monitors, his features were hard to distinguish, but you could tell he was tall and had closely-cropped, light-colored hair. But that was about it. Like a statue, he stood still in the middle of the digital information hub. The man seemed to be quietly drinking in the information that flashed across the screen before him, like a predator waiting to ambush its prey. Eyes watching, waiting, calculating; assessing all the risks.

Behind him, there was a knock at the door behind him.

"Enter," he said blandly in a clear but low and rumbling voice like a tiger growling.

The door slid open to reveal a bespectacled woman wearing a white lab coat and holding a tablet in hand as she stepped over the threshold. Though a head shorter than the man, she held herself in a manner that was neither dominant nor submissive as her coolly indifferent gaze briefly swept across the room in a moment of insatiable curiosity before focusing on the man. Her dark hair was pulled back in a neat bun, but with her rather sharp, inquisitive stare and slightly magnified ice-blue eyes, she looked a bit hawkish.

From the looks of her, she was obviously a scientist.

"Sir, we acquired the necessary subjects we required," she reported tonelessly as she stepped forward and handed him the data-filled pad.

Finally, the man turned around, and his features became more distinguishable in the feeble light streaming in from the doorway.

He was pale with a long face and square jaw; you could just barely make out the faint lines of old scars from times long since passed. His hair was a platinum blonde, almost grayish-white, trimmed in a short military buzz cut. His black eyes were hard and calculating, almost reminiscent of bottomless pits; they held no shred of remorse for those who got lost in their icy-cold depths. Aside from that, the man was full decked out from neck to toe in thick leather that seemed to enhance his lean, trim body. And through it all, despite his cool and collected veneer, you could tell he was no pushover; his very being seemed to command obedience from any and all. And when he smiled, the expression looked more like a cruel smirk; a look of a predator that had just caught his prey.

"Excellent. Are the scientists ready to go to testing phase?" he asked, scanning through the information on the iPad.

The scientist nodded. "Yes, sir. We just need you to oversee operations."

"Very well." And with that, he followed the scientist out of the room.

They made several turns through the large, labyrinth-like facility, coming to a stop outside a metal door. To the side, there was keypad with an iris scanner above it.

Being in the one in front and leading, the man was the first to undergo the device's scrutiny, making sure to use his body to block the scientist's view as he typed in his eight digit passcode and allowed the scanner to confirm his iris-based identity.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, there was a tiny _beep_ and _ca-chunk_ as the red light above the door turned green and the door unlocked, allowing the man entrance with the woman trailing after. If one more person had even tried to follow them, an alarm would have sounded and the entire facility would have gone on lockdown.

The room they entered was completely white and sterile, obviously a lab. Several men and women dressed similarly to the scientist lady milled about the room, attending to their various tasks. No one even looked up from what they were doing when the duo entered, just continued on as if nothing had happened.

Ignoring the room's other occupants, the two made their way over to the opposite side of the room, going through another door and finally arriving in a small room with a large window on the left wall and a table in the center. The flat surface was covered with several computer screens, monitors and other odd looking devices that all seemed to be working in sync. Another man, a middle-aged, balding scientist, sat working at the screens, somehow managing to monitor all the assorted devices and the various data that some read out.

Whatever all the electronic devices were reading out, they all seemed to be scrutinizing something that lay on the other side of the large one-way glass window before them. But none of the people in the small room even bothered to look at, or much less through, the window.

Eventually, the scientist at the monitors looked up and gave the woman the thumbs up, and she nodded, turning to the leather-clad man.

"Sir, we're ready."

A cruel smirk stretched across the man's lips now. "Good, then let us begin."

The tortured screams of the subjects on the other side of the glass never made it past the thick walls of the room they resided in; their tales of agony never to be heard by the ears of the outside world.


	2. Down the Retro-Rabbit Hole

Hello mah peeps! What's crackin'?

So this is the long awaited first chapter of 'Through the Darkness'. If any of you are confused, then you should know that the previous chapter is the prologue, which takes place a couple years before even the first Transformers movie. This chapter however, begins a couple months after the battle of Mission City.

I'm sorry if these chapters seem shorter than those of my other stories, but this is my first more free-lance story so please bear with me. Not to mention that the updates will happen in accordance with my creativity, time, and patience.

Also, before I forget, thank you to all who read the prologue and favorited, reviewed and followed. I truly appreciate it.

Now on with the show!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers or any other recognizable sources that you find here, (though I technically only used Transformers in this chapter along with my own creative skills). Please relax, read, and review!

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Down the Retro-Rabbit Hole**

The two shadows ran as hard and as fast as they could through the moonlit forest, zig-zagging through trees and trying their damnedest to shake their pursuers. In the distance, they could hear the baying of hounds, the shouts of men barking orders at each other and the buzz of drones behind them as they tried to follow the shadows' progress.

Fear clutched at the duo's hearts, driving them and looming over their heads like an ominous cloud, constantly reminding them of the alternative if they were caught. Neither of them were willing to deal with the consequences if their pursuers managed to capture them.

Continuously weaving and bobbing in and out of the greenery, the two stuck close to the trees so as to not be spotted from above.

Behind them, several dogs howled.

Eventually, they heard the faint gurgling rush of water from a nearby creek or stream. Honing in on the babble of the water, the two raced through the night, rushing towards it, and tramping right in when they reached the stream. Water splashed in their wake as they ran through the icy liquid, going upstream.

Both escapees tried their best to conceal their labored breathing. They were determined to make as little to no sound at all in their endeavor, lest they be heard and subsequently caught.

Occasionally, one of them would risk a glance behind them to judge how far their hunters were from their position. But the sounds were distorted and muffled by the foliage, making it difficult to tell.

Even now as they ran, their muscles ached, bodies sweating profusely, hearts racing and lungs condensing and expanding rapidly to keep up with their movements. But neither one refused to stop. They could not afford to be caught because if they were, it would mean the worst imaginable pain. Compared to that, a few aching limbs would be nothing.

The sounds behind them seemed almost louder, though it was hard to tell with the pounding of their hearts roaring in their eardrums. Were they getting closer?

Now either uncaring or unaware of how badly they were breathing now, the duo stubbornly pressed forward, absolute terror propelling their limbs. Nothing else mattered except getting away.

"Just a bit farther!" one of the figures wheezed. "We're almost in the clear."

The sounds of pursuit were definitely getting louder now.

Their fear and desperation was now more evident than ever. They knew that they weren't going to make it but they were damned determined to try.

Then suddenly…

"There!" the other said, their voice sounding slightly more higher-pitched than the first but hopeful as they pointed at a cluster of rocks ahead of them. At first it was hard to make out in the inky blackness but if you looked closely enough at the pile of boulders, you could see what appeared to be a small enough opening for two small people to barely hide in. It didn't really seem like the greatest option though.

"Over here!" came a shout from behind the two, along with several lights. Their hunters were almost upon them now.

It was now or never.

Keenly aware that this could very well be their last chance, both of them seized the last of their courage, gathering up one last burst of strength, and dove one after the other, straight into the small dark hole.

Both of them expected the tiny, enclosed space to be cramped, with barely enough room to twitch a finger. But instead blackness greeted them as they tumbled down, down, down…

On and on, it seemed to go like some insane slide carved out of rock. The two tried to find some purchase in the hard surface but it was to no avail, only managing to attain more cuts and scrapes along the way as they slid further down the shaft. Neither of them had a clue of where they were going or how they going to get back up. For a moment it even seemed as if the slide wasn't going to end until the chute finally leveled out and one after the other, the duo skidded to a halt.

Because the first speaker had dived in first, they were the first to come to a stop. Of course, as they were attempting to stand up however, the second figure came hurtling into the first, causing them both to be sent tumbling to the ground again.

For a while after that, all was quiet in the blackness except for the panting of the two people as they tried to regain their breath, and the scraping of their bodies against the ground. Had there been any light there, all you would have seen was a mass of tangled limbs.

"You know," panted the second speaker breathlessly, their tone joking and light, "You make…an excellent…landing cushion."

"Thanks a lot," the first voice grunted, sounding muffled. "Now get off of me."

Groaning and cursing slightly, the duo managed to detangle themselves after a bit, pausing every so often to listen for any signs or pursuit. However, neither of them could hear a thing except for each other in the darkness.

"Do you think that we're safe?" the first voice finally ventured.

"Maybe, but it could be a trap too."

"I know."

For a moment, both just sat there in silence, as apparently neither were willing to acknowledge the less-than-happy possibilities any further.

Finally, the first voice asked the second, "Do you have a flashlight?"

At first, the only response the first speaker got was the scratching of fabric against fabric, before there was a muffled _plop_ of something heavy being dropped onto the floor and then the rasp of a zipper. Soon enough, it sounded as if someone—apparently the second speaker—was rummaging through some kind of bag, looking for something.

"No…but I think…Ah-ha!" they cheered quietly, as they seemed to find what they wanted.

There was a cracking sound and suddenly the space was illuminated by a green glow, causing them both to squint slightly at the harshness of a light before their eyes eventually adjusted.

"Glow sticks? Seriously?" the first speaker, a young boy who looked to be in his late teens to early twenties, snorted. He looked torn between skepticism and exasperation as he eyed the neon glowing stick.

The other figure, a young girl who looked to be around the same age as the boy, shot him a disapproving glare.

Anyways, now that they weren't running anymore and stood fully in the light of the luminescent stick, one could now make out the duos features more clearly. And aside from the various new cuts, scrapes and bruises that littered their bodies and adorned their features, you could have mistaken the duo to be mirror images at first glance. Anyhow, regardless of their differences in gender, they were almost identical to the last hair, with fair skin, close-cropped military regulation brush cuts with a fade, and round, youthful faces framed by high cheekbones, long, dark lashes and large eyes that looked surprisingly older and more knowledgeable in comparison to the youthful faces they belonged to. Of course, in the current lighting, it was difficult to make out what exactly colors their hair, eyes and skin tones were, but they were definitely some kind of light color.

Anyways, before the girl could reply with some undoubtedly nasty, biting comment, she caught sight of their surroundings in the dim glow and immediately shut her mouth in favor of taking them in.

They appeared to be in some sort of cave that was about the size of a large double-twin hotel room. Aside from the area on which they stood, the rocky ceiling and dusty floor were covered in slight protrusions of tiny, glittering stalactites and stalagmites. The earth itself appeared to be colored some murky brown shade, which made the entire place look a little darker than it was. In front of them, there stood three darkened tunnels displayed before them, about a meter or so apart, each with a visible pathway stretching into the darkness; it was like they were standing in some naturally shaped antechamber made out of bedrock.

As they looked behind them however, the duo received a slight shock, their eyes widening noticeably. In the place where they had assuredly come in from, there was nothing but solid rock. It was as if the entire thing had just never existed in the first place or had simply disappeared into thin air as soon as they exited.

The twins, as that was only what they could be, shared a look.

But that was impossible. Solid rock tunnels don't just simply vanish, leaving behind nothing but solid rock. This phenomenon didn't even seem remotely possible to them, but as the male twin cautiously went over and tapped the wall, he found that it was indeed perfectly solid and not some illusion.

Again, the twins shared a look before turning back to the three tunnels behind them that were almost blatantly laid out like choices, telling them to choose one.

Catching each other's eyes, they almost seemed to silently communicating with one another through looks alone.

' _What do you think?_ ' the girl seemed to question her brother, glancing between themselves and the tunnels.

The boy glanced back at where they had come from before shaking his head minutely, and looking back at his sister. For a brief second, his gaze flicked over to the tunnels with a calculating light in them before looking back at the girl, a slight wariness evident in his eyes.

' _We can't go back,_ ' he seemed to say as he mentally pondered their options. ' _We need to keep moving._ '

They both turned to shrewdly eye the tunnels displayed before them.

"But which way though?" the female twin asked aloud, voicing the question on both their minds.

Carefully, the male twin regarded each of the passageways before them. He seemed more calculating than his sister, though she did eye the tunnels just as shrewdly.

Finally, he said in a quiet voice, "I don't like the looks of the left one. It looks liable to collapse any minute now."

Seeing what he meant, the girl nodded. "No arguments here." From what little of said tunnel could be seen, the walls were dried, cracked and visibly unstable. Even from where they stood, they could hear faint, ominous creaks coming further down it, which to them was not a good sign.

"And the middle one doesn't look much better," the male twin continued, eyeing said middle passage with equal distrust as the first. "It just seems to continuously slope down from what I can see." True to his word, the dark path seemed to gently slope down with no visible end in sight or gradual rise in it.

Peering at the passage from her siblings' right side, she wrinkled her nose as an awful stench wafted over from the tunnel and reached her nose. "It smells bad, like rotten eggs," she commented.

The boy acknowledged her words with a slight nod. "Probably a natural gas line," he agreed. "We definitely want to stay away from that. Just one spark and—"

" _Kaboom_ ," finished the girl quietly before she and her sibling turned their piercing gazes onto their third and final option since staying where they were was not an alternative.

This path, like the others, was dark with no visible end in sight. But unlike the previous two, it seemed fairly sturdy and did not seem to descend at all. However, it didn't seem to ascend at all either, taking on a rather neutral disposition if cave tunnels can have dispositions of any sort.

The duo glanced at each other, an unspoken debate going on between them.

On one hand, this path looked safe enough…a little too safe. It may have just been just their paranoia speaking, but usually things that seemed this perfect were almost always traps. And should it prove to indeed to be a trap…Well they both agreed that they would rather die a horribly painful death than go back _there_.

"Should we?" the girl asked.

The boy studied at the natural passageway before them, a hard, calculating look in his eyes. Finally, he looked to his sister and nodded stiffly. "It's the only smart option we have. For now, we'll just have to step lightly and keep our eyes peeled. We need to get as far away as possible."

And with that, the two squared their shoulders determinedly, the boy shouldering their single pack and entered the darkened passage one after the other.

But as they did, a strange feeling washed over them. They both couldn't help but feel like they had just made a life-altering decision as they warily started down the path. Yet, it didn't feel ominous; it was more optimistic, with a good feeling for the future.

As they walked, they found out that while the passage itself was tall enough so that they didn't have to worry about cracking their heads on a stalactite, it wasn't very wide, so they couldn't walk side by side. The girl led the way for her brother, luminescent stick held aloft so that they might see farther down the passage, but it was too little effect as the inky blackness seemed to press in all around them, making it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of them.

Neither made a sound, even as they walked, intentionally keeping their booted footsteps feather-light. Skeptically, they tried to narrow their eyes in an attempt to see further into the gloom, their bodies tense and senses alert. Hours seemed to pass and still there was no end in sight.

A couple times they stopped to take a sip or two of precious water from their canteens or eat a couple bites of food before continuing on. The duo's bodies ached all the while, bruises and scrapes making themselves known on various parts of their bodies. Stubbornly though, the twins pressed on, ignoring the pain and bits of dried, flaking blood as well as the annoying holes in their matching dark t-shirts and camo-cargo pants.

With time, the silence became as deafening as the blackness was crushing, but neither dared to break it as they pushed forward.

Farther and farther their feet carried them, yet while the path still did not relent, they began to notice subtle changes in the texture of the tunnels' walls and ceiling. It was the only indication they had that they were actually moving as the once uneven walls gradually smoothed out. Not only that, but a couple yards after the path noticeably smoothed out, this… _alien_ writing, began to adorn the walls along with these beautiful blue crystals that seemed to glow faintly in the dark, blanketing the ceiling overhead like a patchwork of stars. The combination of the two was both unsettling and eerily beautiful.

On and on they went until finally, the passage gave way to a large, cavernous room that was definitely more spacious than the first.

Now thanks to the multitude of the strange blue crystals that spanned the cave's ceiling, the light from the green glowing stick was dispersed and refracted through the natural prisms in a multitude of angles, creating a slight disco-ball like effect and giving more light to their surroundings. Still standing at the entrance, they found that they were on a slightly elevated platform that partially overlooked the room. Before them, an innumerable assortment of stalactites and stalagmites of multiple shapes and sizes, jutted from the corners of the cave's floor and ceiling like crystalline fangs. Overhead, high above them, the ceiling resembled a huge, sparkling blue galaxy with the vast amount of tiny blue crystals that spanned across it, with much larger versions of the crystals peering out from in between stalagmites that were dotted here and there. And along the walls, the weird markings that faintly resembled the Chinese or Japanese written language seemed to be etched into every bit of wall-space available. Looking closely you could see that some bits were repeated over and over while others only appeared only once or twice. Oddly enough, even in the blue and green glow of the crystals and glow-stick, it didn't lessen the uncanny feeling that they were standing inside someone's tomb.

Suddenly, the gleam of something shiny from the center of the room caught their eye. Something _big_.

Throwing caution to the wind, the girl hesitantly raised the glow-stick higher before inhaling sharply, the same as her twin, eyes going wide.

There, in the middle of the room, laying on a raised platform of rock as if asleep, was a giant, gleaming silver robot.

"Holy mother-fucking shit!"

* * *

Ha! Cliffhanger! Yes, I know that everbody hates those, and I'll try not to do that too often, but I have to keep the story interesting somehow.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. Yes it's short and the characters don't even have names yet, but you'll see. Hopefully in the next chapter or two, they'll be introduced. Who knows? Oh wait! Me, of course!

On another note...Why are they being chased? Who are their pursuers? What is this place they keep mentioning but never name? And who is the bot laying in the middle of the cave?

Hehe...those are just some things to think about.

Please review, follow and favorite all you like. If you have any questions, concerns, comments, or gripes, you know what to do. Have a lovely day!


	3. Dreams in Darkness

Hello folks!

I'll be brief today and just say thank you to all who have read this and have reviewed, favorited and followed my stories. It really means a lot to me. I love you all to pieces.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers. Yadda, yadda, yadda. You get the point. Please relax, read, and review. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Dreams in Darkness**

"What the hell is that thing?"

"What does it look like?"

"But one that big? Are you kidding? That thing is way too advanced to be made by humans!"

"No shit! And where exactly do you think it came from then? Outer space?"

Back and forth we went in our heated, whisper-yelled argument. Honestly, the female twin had no idea why they were arguing over such a ridiculous trifle as they crouched at the mouth of the tunnel. They weren't toddlers for Pete's sake, but it was as if someone had lit a match next to a keg of gunpowder and their tempers just suddenly flared. They both just felt so angry. They wanted to…to…to what?

Just as quickly as their tempers had ignited, the twins both immediately stopped what they were doing, surprised at their own thoughts.

It was then that as the duo shared an apologetic look that they suddenly realized how bone-tired they both looked. No wonder their tempers were running on such short fuses.

Of course, up until now, neither of them had fully realized it. They had stubbornly been tromping around dark cave tunnels without much respite. But now as their previous adrenaline rushes wore off along with the last dregs of their energy, the remainder of their mental clarity seemed to have been sapped from them as well. It was as if they had been moving on autopilot; a single-minded determination driving them with their one goal in mind. Now however, they were faced with yet another problem, and their exhausted minds and bodies just could not keep up.

As if they were on the same wavelength, the duo silently glanced over one another, taking note of the exhausted fog that seemed to cloud their eyes. Though to an outsider, it would have just looked like they were gazing intently at each other; through way of micro-expressions, they silently communicated with each other.

Both of them were too tired for anymore drama. That much they could agree on. They could not think clearly and had expended most of their energy trying to get away; they needed to rest while they could before either of them dropped dead. Anymore 'excitement' and they would probably keel over and end up as…

 _Don't think about it_ , the female twin mentally berated herself, shaking her head slightly. _Thinking about it will do you no good._

Glancing back up at her twin, she caught his eye; you could see that he knew full well what his sister had been thinking about and had chosen to ignore it. Shaking her head again, she deliberately looked at the robot before meeting her brother's eye again, worry and suspicion evident in her gaze.

' _What about the robot? What are we going to do about it?_ ' she seemed to say. Suddenly, a devastating realization came to her already sluggish mind, and fear made its way into her eyes, her entire frame tensing. ' _What if_ they _own it? What then? What do we do if it turns on and tries to kill us?_ '

She was so tired that her fraying nerves were causing her to panic.

However, as she looked at him, her sibling's gaze only spoke of understanding. He knew and he understood; he always did.

The male twin could only shrug lightly, his eyes saying it all. ' _I don't know. We'll just have to think about that when we get there._ ' Then he looked around at the cave before glancing back at the tunnel they had come from. A tired smirk graced his exhausted features and his sister interpreted his gestures perfectly.

In the defense of the robot, while its presence didn't exactly sit well with either of them, it hadn't technically harmed them…yet. Besides, tech that large and advanced would take some time to power up, giving them some forewarning ahead of time. Not to mention, that it would still probably require an operator inside of it. But even if it was controlled remotely, by the looks of it, they were so far underground that no clear signal would probably reach this far down through the bedrock to have enough strength to control it.

Still the girl frowned. So the boy tapped his ear and gestured around at the high-ceiling. Reluctantly, the girl nodded, though she seemed to be put a little more at ease. Thanks to the elevated ceiling, they could get pretty good acoustics from the cavern and tunnel walls and probably hear if someone was coming.

It made sense, but it also gave the girl another idea. In the green light of the phosphorescent stick, she tapped her ear twice before pointing at the robot. ' _What if the robot is bugged?_ '

Again, her brother tapped the solid rock and she nodded, barely concealing a yawn. In response, her twin smiled just as tiredly only to fail spectacularly as he tried to quash his own oncoming yawn.

And so eventually it was decided: they agreed that they would stay there for the time being and get some much needed rest. And later, when they finally woke up, they would decide things from there.

Of course, still being paranoid from their experiences, they both refused to go to sleep until they searched the cave thoroughly from top to bottom and argued for about five minutes or so about if one of them should stay awake to keep watch for a bit.

In the end though, the twins just gave up and decided that they could risk it so as to make sure that neither of them collapsed from exhaustion later. Soon enough, sleep overcame the duo, and they both curled up together in a corner of the dark cavern where people would have trouble spotting them among the earthen spikes and strange blue crystals.

If only they knew that this was just the beginning.

* * *

—Female Twin's POV—

Where…Where am I? _I thought as I looked around._

" _Lunick? Lu, where are you?" I called out, my voice echoing._

 _All around me it was dark, almost pitch-black, but for some reason, I could see things clearly. Even my own body was visible to me, as though I was standing under a spotlight that only illuminated my body. I was still wearing the uniform that my brother and I were always required to wear when we were with_ them. _However, the fabric felt somewhat nicer than before, not to mention clean and devoid of any tears or rips. My feet on the other hand, were completely bare and I could feel that I was standing on something cool and smooth. Metal maybe? What was the most surprising of all though was that all my previous injuries were now gone, as if they had never existed, leaving my skin blemish free with an almost healthy glow about it._

 _Taking a breath of fresh air, I looked around and saw that the darkened landscape was peppered with millions of glowing lights all around me. Were they stars?_

 _I walked over and kneeled next to a blue-colored one to take a closer look._

 _Wait, not stars, I realized, examining the one before me. It seemed to be some kind of ball of light or a cluster of energy that was about half a foot wide in diameter, sky blue, and seemed to almost hum a bit as its light fluctuated every so often, hovering in the air a foot off the ground. For a moment, I thought that I even heard whispers coming from it._

 _Standing up again, I glanced around at the millions of others that dotted the landscape, floating here and there, near and all around me; their numbers stretched out into the vast distance and across the flat landscape. In the distance, I could make out the outlines of what could possibly be mountains on the horizon, with a faint hint of light coming from behind them as though sunrise was nearing. However, even that feeble amount of illumination brought no light to my surroundings._

 _A breeze rushed past me, almost caressing me softly as it seemed to carry the sound of more indecipherable whispering._

 _Anyways, I noticed how no two orbs of light were exactly the same. They were of all different shapes—as the fluctuating energy couldn't seem to settle on one definite form—and sizes, even differing in colors and intensities._

 _Some glowed a blood-red; others were blue like the sky or a sapphire; even a couple were colors like green, purple, orange, silver, and golden yellow. They were just all over the place, spanning far and wide. Here and there, some orbs floated in clusters of four or five, while others bobbed along in pairs of two or three, appearing to look almost identical as they pulsed at the same rhythm. And even at the distance that I stood from a majority of them, I noticed how some, who scampered about, appeared to be as tiny and as miniscule as a mouse, while others were even taller and larger than I was several times over. It was both amazing and awe-inspiring._

 _For what felt like the first time in forever, I felt a sense of peace and tranquility spread over me, bringing a small smile to my face._

 _Just then, I noticed another blue orb floating toward me. It was larger than the other sphere of energy, about two feet wide, and seemed to be a more vibrant shade of blue if it was possible._

 _It seemed to be brimming with joyful energy as it hovered in front of my face for a moment before playfully dancing all around me in an almost dizzying manner. Doing several loop-dee-loops and corkscrews through the air in front of me, I couldn't help but giggle a little at its child-like energy._

 _Then I paused, staring down at the ground. How long had it been since I had last laughed, or even smiled genuinely like this?_

 _As if sensing my emotions, the orb hovered near my face again, and I swore I could feel worry coming off of it. The glow about it pulsed, the energy tickling my nose a bit before retracting, as if to say 'cheer up.'_

 _The odd whispering got louder, though I still couldn't make out the words._

 _Without even realizing it, I had slowly reached out my hand to touch it. My fingers were about an inch away from contact before common sense returned to me and I retracted my hand quickly._

" _Hush now, little one, everything will be alright," soothed a deep, metallic-sounding voice that seemed to reverberate a bit, coming from all around. Somehow, just by listening to those words, I found myself torn. I felt like I could believe him, but years of learned caution told me otherwise._

" _Who– Who are you? Show yourself!" I called boldly into the surrounding darkness, silently cursing myself for stuttering as my voice seemed to echo eerily._

" _That would be unwise," the voice replied. He didn't sound offended at my lack of manners._

 _To my left, the orb hovered next to me at shoulder height._

" _Oh?" I questioned in a haughty tone that I think anyone would have taken offense to. "What's a matter? Afraid to show yourself, coward?" I taunted. Rude and possibly unwise, I know but it's my defense mechanism for situations like these._

 _In response, I heard a deep rumbling sound that reverberated and shook the ground a bit (along with me too). Was he…_ laughing _at me?_

" _You have heart, dear spark," the disembodied voice rumbled amusedly. "Very well, little one. I shall grant your request, but I ask that you please attempt to refrain from screaming or dissolving into hysteric. I believe that you humans call it 'freaking out.'"_

 _Scowling, I crossed my arms over my chest and tapped my bare foot impatiently on the ground. "Fine, fine. But I don't see what the big deal is."_

 _Man did I eat those words._

 _The landscape rippled and changed, like someone was redoing their sand-art. Stars hung overhead, still visible, as the white glow from the sunrise now illuminated my surroundings more clearly. I was standing atop a single grassy hill where there grew only a single tree and sat a lone boulder. Oddly enough, it was situated in the middle of a metal, mechanized landscape that seemed to go for miles. To the northwest, I could see the gleaming outline of a sparking city, but I got an odd feeling of foreboding as I scrutinized it, watching as faint plumes of smoke rose from it. It was like some battle had been fought there recently, but it was too far away to tell. Behind me, to the south, there was this huge reddish-brown cloud that hung in the distance, reminding me slightly of rust. Anyways, aside from those features and the mountains to the east where the sun rose, that was all I could make out as no matter how hard or where I looked, the scenery seemed to be covered in a faint mist._

 _But that wasn't the real shocker._

 _As if caught in an earthquake, the landscape rumbled, causing me to fall back onto my ass, before a huge crack opened up and a humongous white and blue figure rose out of it. And when I say humongous, I mean that he could probably use the Chrysler building as a baseball bat and a redwood tree as a toothpick. And to top it all off, he was a giant freaking robot!_

 _Somewhere in the back of my shock-riddled mind, I faintly registered that I kept mouthing the words 'What the hell. What the hell. What the hell,' over and over as I stared up at the being in shock; my eyes practically bugging out of their sockets. Around me, the colorful orbs seemed to both want get closer to the giant and his commanding presence, yet also back away in either fear or respect in response to the powerful aura he exuded._

 _For a moment, I could only gape up at him, opening and closing my mouth like a fish out of water. He seemed to be watching me, standing completely still as if not to spook me. Too late for that; I was already in shock._

 _Eventually, I managed to make myself form coherent words._

" _What the…what is this? Please tell me that this is a dream because I'd really rather not be dead," I finally managed to squeak, looking up at the being in horror._

 _He laughed again, a deep, booming sound that washed over my frame and made me want to smile in response, despite my panic. "Of a sort," the unnamed being replied with a knowing smile on his ginormous features. H-E-double toothpick! If he wanted, he could probably eat me whole and have no problems digesting me._

 _Carefully, he knelt down, orbs moving out of the way for him, as he brought his much larger face closer to my entire being. Later on, if anyone were to ask me what he exactly looked like, I couldn't tell them exactly as even I had trouble taking in his entire frame. But even as he still towered over my insignificant height, I fearlessly gazed back at him, watching as the beautiful shining lights that functioned as his eyes seemed to transition from gold to blue to red to multiple other colors that I couldn't really name at the moment. All I knew was that when I looked into them, I saw a kind and gentle being that didn't actually mean me any harm._

" _Little warrioress,"the titan spoke softly, "I have an important task for you. Do you accept?"_

 _Though still slightly intimidated, I managed to cock my head to the side in confusion. "Task? I thought you said that this was a dream."_

 _He shook his head slightly, careful not to disturb the spheres of light with any fast movements. "I did not say that exactly; I said 'of a sort'," he corrected, sounding uncannily like my brother for a moment._

 _Standing up again, I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him my best unimpressed look._

" _Geez, that doesn't sound cryptic at all," I muttered sarcastically. Despite the fact that I'm pretty damn sure that my remark wasn't all that loud, his smirk told me otherwise._

 _After that though, silence reigned, but I could still feel his penetrating stare upon me, as though he was waiting. You could practically feel the battle of wills going on between us, or my inevitably doomed struggle against an unstoppable tide._

 _Eventually though, his penetrating stare got to me, and I gave in, sighing. "Fine, I'm listening. What do you want me to do?"_

 _Looking extremely pleased, he smiled as though I had both just asked the million-dollar question and answered another in one go._

" _My task for you is simple," he said, "I wish for you to revive the one who was not ready to die with your powers."_

 _He made it sound so simple and easy, and yet…_

" _Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold on. Back up. Rewind. You want me to '_ revive _' who with what now? And_ powers _? I don't have any powers!" I practically screamed at the giant. "Well, unless you include being able to beat people senseless in less than thirty seconds, but that is hardly something to—"_

" _Jazz," the being cut into my tirade, "His designation is Jazz."_

 _As he said the name, the playful orb that hovered next to me, shivered a bit, dimming slightly for a moment._

" _Well whoop-dee-do for him," I muttered as the giant continued to talk._

" _And while you may not realize it yet, you do possess an extraordinary power, both you and your brother," he said with all the calmness and patience in the world, yet I got the feeling that I should not test it any further for now._

" _I– Well that's– it's completely—"_

 _I just could not get the right words out, but eventually I managed._

" _But how? Hell! I don't even know who you're talking about."_

 _By now I felt like I was close to tears, sounding slightly frantic as I flapped my arms emphatically._

" _And why me?! Why me of all people?" I didn't mean to sound so whiny or hysteric, but this was getting ridiculous in my opinion. I felt like I was getting swept away, with no way to steer my course. In an attempt to calm myself, I settled upon the boulder underneath the tree, the blue orb following. It was almost completely sunrise now._

 _Somehow, he must have sensed my inner turmoil and possibly understood how I felt because his gaze softened, a kind look on his face._

 _Can it still be considered 'inner turmoil' if you're in a dream?_

" _You will know in time dear spark," he told me, sounding sympathetic._

 _For the longest time, I just sat there, dumbstruck, silently thinking. Then, glancing up again, I observed the gentle giant thoughtfully, my previously panicked thoughts now calming. Finally, I came to a conclusion._

 _Straightening up and squaring my shoulders as I stood, I said boldly, "Okay then. Be that way. But answer me this: What's in it for me? What do I gain from helping you?"_

 _In that instant that followed those words, I knew that I had asked the question he had been waiting for; white and blue giant smiled down at me in an almost proud manner, chuckling softly. "I expected no less from you," he said. "Very well. In return for your efforts, you and your brother will be granted the one thing you desire most: family."_

 _I froze; I didn't even know his name but he had managed to hit the hammer on the nail._

" _What about the…guys that are chasing us? I know that they aren't going to allow that to happen."_

" _A valid point young one," the giant rumbled. "But you need not worry. Once you learn to trust them, and they you, they will protect you both at any cost from the danger of those who pursue you and others who would wish to harm to you and your twin."_

 _As he said that, I stood there, pondering his words, as well as my options._

 _Looking towards the mountains, I guessed that I had maybe a couple minutes left until sunrise._

 _It seemed like a pretty sweet deal, but years of learned caution taught me to be wary. This was too sweet to believe that I would get all that I wanted just like that. I knew all too well that everything came with a price. But if so, what was his motive? And he still hadn't really answered my question as to why me. But glancing back up at the ancient being's face, I got the feeling that I wouldn't get a straight answer anytime soon._

" _Fine," I relented, figuring that it was best to comply since this technically was just a dream. "Who is this Jazz person? Where can I find him? And how do I revive him?"_

 _The sun had now risen and I had a feeling that it was only a matter of seconds before it was time._

 _The metal being just smiled warmly before bringing the tip of his tree-sized digit to my forehead. Warmth filled me at the same instant as the information started pouring into me. Images flashed before my eyes in an almost sickening whirl of color, each blazing by too fast for me to make out anything clearly. Then suddenly it stopped and everything around me began to fade, losing focus and blacking out. The last thing I heard was the being's voice saying, "Good luck little Solana. Remember that there always those you can still trust. 'Til all are one."_

 _The last thing I thought was:_ I should have gotten a blood-oath from him.

* * *

So they finally have names. Hip-hip-horay! Give it up for the new up and coming terror twins: Solana and Lunick!

Oh and guys? Before I write the next chapter, I would really appreciate it if you guys could help me with how Jazz speaks. Like if he pronounces 'g' as a 'j' like in Jacques (which I know he doesn't). Even if it is one little thing or how he says a particular phrase, I'd appreciate it if you guys could help to make Jazz more realistic.

Oh and who do you guys think is older? Jazz or Barricade? Yes it is relevant for the story. So please check out my polls as it seems like no one looks at them and I was going to put this question on there.

Anyways, you lot know the drill. But seriously, feed the review monster as it is an insatiable creature.


	4. Awakening

I will be as brief as possible.

Thank you to all who favorited, followed, and reviewed my story (and myself). All your efforts are greatly appreciated, especially those of you who immediately responded to my pleas for help.

I apologize if this seems a little dry or short, but unfortunately, I am on a tight schedule.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers. Sadly. Please RR &R.

* * *

 **Chapter 3:** Awakening

As much as I would love to claim that I am a morning person, I'm really not. Unless something scares the shit out of me enough, I'll either end up being extremely cranky and irritable or just super quiet.

Thankfully though, when I jolted up from my spot on the floor some hours later, wide awake, it was the latter. Of course right after that, I then became all too aware of them feeling of all the dirt and grime on my person and I couldn't suppress the slight twinge of irritation that I felt. God did I want a hot shower.

Checking over myself, I noted that a majority of my scrapes and bruises had started to heal nicely, already scabbing over and fading to a greenish-yellow color.

Then, I looked over to where my brother lay in the darkness. Moving closer so I could see him better in the dimming light of the glow-stick, my expression softened at the look of absolute peace on my slumbering sibling's face. Despite being cut up and bruised like I was but less so, (much to my relief), he looked absolutely tranquil. And even after all we've been through, he still manages to retain a look of pure innocence, even if it was just while he sleeps.

Though I couldn't see it, I knew that there was a melancholy smile on my face.

I was just thankful that at least one of us made it out of there with a little less mental scarring.

Getting up silently and stretching my aching muscles, I grabbed the weakened glow-stick and made my way over to the robot, thinking of my unusual dream. Already, some of the details were starting to fade away, but the flashes of blurred images that flooded my mind after the being had touched my forehead were still as vibrant and fresh as ever. It was like someone had permanently tattooed them to the inside my skull for my brain to look at forevermore.

 _The bot lay on its flat bed of rock like a corpse in its tomb. Blue-green light was cast around it, giving it an eerie look._

 _The image flickered._

 _Now I was looking down on the bot, from overhead where I could see its chest. A hand reached out as if to touch a certain point on the metallic body._

 _Again, the image flickered and changed._

 _There was an orb-like thing hooked up to multiple wires and tubes inside some kind of box, but the sphere looked lifeless and dead._

 _Another flicker._

 _Lightning arced all over, tingling my senses._

 _A fourth flicker._

 _There was blackness but I got the impression of pain and heard the sound of something beating like a heart but was not a heart exactly._

 _A fifth and final flicker._

 _Silver, a playful smile, and vibrant blue eyes that seemed to glow as they stared right back at me._

I shook my head, trying to clear the images away.

Approaching the gigantic, prone, and listless figure, I allowed my eyes to rove over the form of the robot. From what I could tell in the poor green lighting, he was a lovely shade of gleaming sliver.

I paused.

Wait, _he_? Since when did I start thinking that the robot was a 'he'?

Now looking back over at the body shape of the robot, I admitted that it did have a masculine look to it.

Shrugging, I continued my perusal of the robot.

In general, the bot was obviously modeled with the visage of a human in mind. Giant metal being though he may be, he was only about seventeen feet tall or so by the looks of him, which was tiny compared to the bot from my dream but still larger than I was.

Carefully, I climbed up next to him onto the flat slab of rock that served as a bed of some kind for the silver giant, so I could get a closer look.

His head was shaped a bit like a cat's with two little fins sticking up on either side like a helmet and came down on either side of his face. His face however, was colored a darker shade of grey like gunmetal. He had a slightly pointed face with a protrusion on his chin like he had a small goatee there or a helmet strap. Where his eyes should have been, there was some sort of clear-ish visor that covered the area and curved down in the middle to form a point over his nose. Aside from that, what little I could see of the robot's mouth was shaped in an emotionless expression that just did not sit well with me; I felt like it should be stretched in a mischievous smirk with the visor lit up.

Ignoring that thought, I persisted in my visual scan of the metal titan.

In my opinion, he was a little odd looking as a couple of his features reminded me of a car. For example, he had tires in the areas that served as his shoulder-joints and heels. On his chest, he had two headlights on either side and the parted, honeycomb-shaped grill of a car in the middle. Not to mention that he had rear lights on his thighs and another set of lights on his forearms. And finally, though it was hard to tell with him lying down, there looked to be some sort of rear wing sticking up behind his head. He basically seemed to be coated from head to toe in silver, metal, car-like armor. Oddly enough though, the only exposed areas, which revealed multiple wires hidden underneath, were in the same tender places that humans had as well like the joints, the stomach, and the areas on his shoulders around his neck. There was even a faint indented line, like an outline of an old scar, that ran along him from either side, right above where his hips would be, and divided the bot in two.

But I knew, that this metal titan wasn't someone's scrapyard creation. Just by looking at him, from his mysteriously visored helm, to his four polished digits on either hand that were shaped like claws, to his pointed feet, I just knew that this guy was not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, robot.

Anyways, despite the fact that the robot was laid down to look like it was sleeping, with its clawed digits folded over its chest, I couldn't help but notice how _lifeless_ it looked. It was like I was looking at a corpse almost.

I shook my head at the stray thought. That couldn't be right because it wasn't alive. Right?

Without even realizing it, I had made a move to reach out and touch the armor on its left leg.

But before I could however, a voice sang from behind me, "I would be more careful if I were you sis."

I yelped loudly as I jumped, whirling around to face the source of the voice. Of course, in my haste, I forgot that I stood near the edge of the raised platform and accidentally misstepped, suddenly finding myself falling backwards.

Thankfully, a pair of hands caught me before I could hurt myself.

"Told you," Lunick said with a look.

I leveled a glare at him. "Don't _do_ that!"

He just raised a brow in response, the corner of his lips twitching.

I rolled my eyes and sighed exasperatedly, pulling myself out of his hold.

We weren't mad at each other if that is what you're thinking.

As brother and sister, we were close. But as _twin_ brother and sister, I'd like to think that made us even closer, especially after what we had went through together at the hands of our pursuers. We rarely, if ever, got into fights with each other as we depended a lot on one another for things. Basically in a sense, we were the epitome of that mysterious twin connection that others talk about having, though we technically couldn't read each other's minds like everyone thought.

"So what do you think?" I asked, cutting right to the chase.

In the dim light, I saw as Lunick frowned in contemplation. "Honestly, I don't know," he admitted, brows furrowed. "After our search last night, I think the only choice we have is to go back to where we came in and try the other tunnels."

Before falling asleep, Lunick and I had searched the cavern thoroughly from top to bottom in case this was a trap. The only things our efforts had revealed, however, was that the cave was clean and that there was only one way in and out of here, and that was the way we had come in.

"That is, unless we want to try climbing rock walls without a harness," my twin added in an offhanded tone.

I tilted my head to the side a bit in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"There's a large chute near the back that I think leads directly back to the surface," he told me. "But it's too high up for either of us to even reach, let alone climb since it's pretty wide."

"Basically, we'd have to be insane to even try, right?" I summed up.

Lunick nodded slowly, and I could tell that he was thinking pretty hard. Of the two of us, I would have to say that Lunick is the smartest. For one, he's more tech-savvy than I am and knows a lot of stuff about a great number of things. In fact, he was the one who engineered our escape from our captors.

As for myself, I'm more suited for making split-second decisions at the last second and using my fists to muscle our way out of sticky situations. I was the one who was knocking out guards and keeping them distracted while my brother did whatever to make our flight possible.

Essentially, he was the brain of the operations and I was merely the brawn.

"Come on," I said, grabbing him and pulling him along. "Let's have some breakfast."

A little reluctantly, Lunick listened, allowing me to pull him back to our sleeping spot among the strange blue crystals and earthen teeth.

Anyways, our 'breakfast' consisted of one nutrition bar and three gulps of water each. Sad, I'll admit, but we had no idea how long we would be there, so we had to start rationing.

"So what do you think of the bot?" I asked, after swallowing a mouthful of packed oatmeal, nuts, and raisins. I had decided not to mention my weird dream as this place freaked me out enough already.

As he sat across from me, Lunick thoughtfully tapped the half-eaten bar in his hand on the underside of his chin a couple times before answering. "It's pretty advanced," he admitted in a tone that suggested that he would have liked to take a closer look at it if he had the chance. "Crack another light stick if you can, would you? This old one looks ready to die soon."

I complied, pulling another clear cylinder from our shared pack, and cracking it. A pale blue light lit up the area some more, making their surroundings take on a light, teal-blue hue from the combined light of the fading green glow stick and the new one.

"That's better," I sighed contentedly, setting the lights in between us. "And you're telling me. I may not be a tech genie like you, but even I can tell you that much." Then, I frowned a bit as another thought occurred to me. "I don't think that even _they_ have something this advanced."

Despite the fact that the last part came out as a whisper, my brother still heard, and his expression morphed into something a kin to my own as he nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but if this thing belongs to someone, why leave it here?"

Resting my chin on one of my fists, I tried to think. "Fear of the government, perhaps?" I pondered aloud.

Lunick nodded thoughtfully, taking a sip of water.

We both knew all too well what the government was capable of. It was possible that if they had something as advanced as this in their hands that there would be death in the streets. The government would try to weaponize it for potential militia uses, and when they did, the results would undoubtedly be catastrophic. Certain people would hear about it and try to take it for themselves so they could gain power. While other countries, when they got wind of this, they would probably either see this act as a prelude to war or an attempt to gain more power and feel threatened. Pretty soon, everyone would be going to defcon-1, and…Well you get the point. With something like this, the United States would probably always have the upper hand with such a major advantage over other countries. Never mind harnessing nuclear fusion energy or curing cancer with one pill, we'd always have an easy win, no matter the fight. And there would just be no telling what they would do with any form of extremely advanced technology.

But one thing my brother and I knew well was that absolute power tends to corrupt people. So whoever made this robot probably wanted to ensure that that didn't happen.

"But it still doesn't add up though," Lunick said, drawing me out of my thoughts. Swallowing the last bite of his food before stuffing the empty wrapper into one of the pockets of our bag, he got up and walked over to the silver titan. "This thing is way more advanced than anything I've ever seen. Even the current technology we humans possess today doesn't compare to this. Its lightyears ahead of anything we have. Even now, it would probably take us centuries to come up with tech that could compare to this."

I raised a brow at him, mimicking his actions and coming to stand beside him.. "What are you trying to say?" I asked my twin curiously, wondering where he was going with this.

He sighed, putting his hand on his head like he had a headache. "What I'm trying to say is, however impossible it may seem, I do not think that this bot was man made."

I blinked owlishly. "It's alien? As in, not of this this earth, type of alien?"

Still studying the automaton, Lunick nodded solemnly, as if he couldn't believe it himself.

Had I been a normal person, I probably would have scoffed, told my brother that he was crazy, and booked him a nice padded cell in a mental asylum with a straight jacket and a cart-load of pills. As it was, however, I knew only that I trusted my brother's judgement. And if he said that something was alien, then I believed him without question. Besides, he was the tech genie, so he knew what he was talking about.

Now looking at it from this angle, I had a sudden mental flash from my dream. _Silver robot, bed of rock, and a blue-green light…_

"I wonder…" I softly voiced aloud, walking towards the bot as if in a trance.

"Uh sis?" my twin questioned, though I didn't respond.

Climbing up onto the raised platform, I then proceeded to pull myself up onto the robot and straddle his chassis.

"Sis?" my brother tried again but to no avail.

I looked down at my hand, and I realized that it was just like the hand I had seen in those images from my dream.

As if some unknown force was guiding my hand, I reached out and touched a single digit to the middle of the silver bot's chest-plates. As soon as my finger came into contact with the cool metal, I saw a small flicker of static jump from my hand to the robot's chest; I smartly withdrew my hand. Immediately after, as if I had triggered some hidden mechanism, there was a whir of machinery before a single perfect seam appeared in the metal.

"Sol?" Lunick called, starting to sound worried. But I just ignored him.

Digging my nails into the seam, I forced the plates to part, revealing a small cavity behind them. In the center of the compartment there sat this kind of dead, blackened-looking orb that was hooked up to multiple different wires and tubes. It reminded me of a heart, but it wasn't beating for some reason, and I got the feeling that this thing didn't pump blood anyway.

Listening intently to what my body was telling me to do, I reached out again, this time hovering my hand over the lifeless sphere.

As for what happened next, well let's just say that all hell broke loose.

As if in response to my actions, I immediately felt as a huge wave of _something_ rose up inside of me, building up in size and intensity, before coming crashing down in a combination of agony and relief.

At the same time as the climax of the wave however, as if by magic or some other mysterious force of nature, I screamed silently in agony as rays of energy arced like lightning out of my hand and into the orb, reigniting it.

"Solana!" Lunick yelled.

And that's when _it_ happened: the robot's entire frame shook and shuddered underneath me, coughing and venting like it was trying to breathe. I could feel as the entire metal being twitched and whirred underneath me, scaring the living daylights out of me as the chest-plates snapped closed over the bright blue orb.

And like an idiot, I just sat there on top of it, gaping, and watching the whole damn thing happen before my very eyes.

Entranced, I watched in awe-filled horror as the visor on the robots face seemed to gradually online, flickering a bit before completely lighting up blue. Then, like horror movie scene, the silver titan slowly tilted his head up and looked Straight. At. Me.

Visor brightening a bit, the robot's lips then contorted into an equally bright smile as he focused on me and said in unmistakably masculine voice, "What's crackin' lil lady?"

I did the only sane thing a person could do: I screamed.

* * *

Well I hope you folks enjoyed that cuz I am tired! Whew!

Anyways, you know the drill so please feed the review monster.

As for the question from the previous chapter, I will remain open to your answers for about a month. For those of you who almost never read the author's notes, the question is this: Who do you think is older, Jazz or Barricade? It is vital for this story as no one bothers to participate in my polls.

Again, I apologize if this seems a little dry or short, but I am on a tight schedule, unfortunately for you lot. I probably won't be able to update this for at least a week (seven days). So please do not get used to this special treatment and bear with me.

Hope you lot are all having a lovely summer! Please review, favorite and follow, and check out and vote on my polls!

See you all next time in **Chapter 4** of _Through the Darkness_ : " **What's Crackin' Lil Humans?** "


	5. What's Crackin' Li'l Humans?

Howdy and welcome to another chapter of "Through the Darkness". Please do not kill me. I am very sorry; shit has just been takin over my life: start of the school year, senior year at that, lots of homework, homecoming dance, spending time with my boyfriend, being bossed around by my demanding cat, removal of all four of my wisdom teeth, etc. Ya'll get the picture. But seriously, I am sorry. I've been kicking myself in the ass over this for a long time.

But I know you don't want to read about my slaggy life. So RR&R. Especially feed the review monster an check out my polls, I don't give a damn if you post your poll in a review or a PM too.

Now on with the show.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers or any other recognizable sources.

* * *

 **Chapter 4: What's Crackin' Li'l Humans?**

I screamed, very loudly and very girlishly. Mind you, I am a girl but that's beside the point.

Panicked, I hurriedly scrambled backwards off the robot, my self-preservation instincts screaming almost as loudly I was. Of course, in my panicked haste, I stupidly forgot that the robot, while still many times larger than I was, was not the widest surface, and ended up falling off of it in my haste. Thank goodness that my brother was there to catch me and drag me back when my stupid legs refused to obey me. I probably would've ended up getting a concussion or something worse if he hadn't.

"What the hell did you do?!" Lunick demanded of me, though his eyes, like mine, were trained on the robot.

We both watched the robot with wide, horrorstruck expressions as it slowly began to sit up, still watching us. Or at least I think it was watching us since I couldn't tell with its visor-thing in the way. Did it even have 'eyes' under there?

"I don't know!" I practically screeched back.

Lunick looked like he had more to say on the matter, but before he could, the silver titan swung its legs over the side of the stone slab, towards us, causing both my brother and I to accidentally trip in our haste to get away from it.

We were reacting purely on instinct, not even bothering to get and instead scrambling backwards on our hands and feet like a couple of fleshy crabs.

And when it slowly began to stand up, I can only say that my next actions were driven by pure primordial and instinctual fear.

Acting on basic instinct that had been drilled into me from my rigorous training, never once did my eyes leave the current threat while my hands fumbled around behind me, searching for something, anything, that I could get my hands on and would prove useful to me in this situation. Suddenly, I felt as my fingertips brushed over a rough but hard object somewhere behind me to my left and immediately seized upon it, fingers curling around the object that was slightly bigger than my fist. But aside from that, that was where my observational skills ended as in that following moment afterwards, the object was sent flying at the robot's head at maximum velocity, and all that could been seen in that three second time frame before impact was a small, dark object sailing through the air and moving almost faster than the eye could process.

CLANG!

"Ow! Dat 'urt!" the robot cried immediately afterwards, now clutching at the newest dent in its forehead. I notice how it spoke in a slightly accented voice.

BONG!

Another rock sailed through the air and hit the robots left bicep, courtesy of my brother this time.

"Will ya stop dat?!"

We, of course, didn't; and instead more rocks sailed through the air.

CRASH!

"Quit dat!"

BANG!

"Quit—"

CLANG!

"Ow! Throwin' slag—"

CRASH!

"Ouch! At—"

CLANG!

"Oof! Meh!"

If the situation hadn't been so serious, the image of a couple teenagers causing a large robot to cower in fear would've almost been comical. However, as it appeared to us in our minds, it was our valiant efforts that were the only things keeping the titan at bay, and each echoing clang of rock on metal was another small victory in a much larger battle.

Dodging another onslaught of rocks, the robot called desperately, "I'm not going to hurt you guys!"

 _Lies_.

Ignoring its words, my brother and I scrambled around behind us for more fist-sized projectiles only to come up empty handed.

Uh-oh.

Now if this had been a movie, we would probably have stood up and made some courageous last stand or something like that against our foe, the evil robot. And maybe we would have in reality.

But as it was, even with all the rest my brother and I had gotten, our minds remained slow and sluggish, causing us to both go on autopilot. It was as if someone had just injected liquid lead into our brains, and now we were having trouble thinking as the lead had cooled and hardened, slowing our thought processes and simultaneously crushing whatever courage we had left with its weight. And now all my brother and I could think to do was press our bodies firmly together in a desperate attempt to make ourselves look smaller and silently hope and pray that our deaths would be as quick and painless as possible.

Both of us had shut our eyes tightly and embraced the looming fact that our death was upon us. But after several minutes with no indication of metal claws coming to squeeze us to death, my twin and I both opened our eyes slowly to see the metal being just sitting there, its back leaning up against the side of the stone slab, a couple yards from us.

"Dere now. See? I ain't gonna hurt cha," it said in what I guess was supposed to be a calming tone.

"I-it's talking to us," I whispered stupidly to my twin, watching the silver robot's every movement.

"Uh-huh," was all he said in a slightly awed tone, his eyes bugging like mine probably were.

"What are we gonna do?!" I hissed, a slight note of hysteria in my tone as the robot slowly inched closer.

We were right back in the spot we had slept in, our things scattered about.

When we had first settled into this particular corner of the cavern, we had intended to merely remain hidden from our pursuers in the darkness. This plan now proved to be an error in judgement because we were now boxed into a corner with no way out except the way that we came in…which was now on the other side of the robot.

"I don't know!" he snapped under his breath.

I was about to retort but the words died on my lips as the robot now stood only seven feet away, looking down on our shaking forms as he kneeled down, observing us with its brightly lit visor.

"It's okay," it tried soothing. "Ah ain't gonna hurt cha."

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel better," I mumbled under my breath, barely moving my lips.

My twin burrowed deeper into my side. "Why hasn't the robot killed us yet?" he mumbled.

"'Ey now, ah ain't no robot," the self-proclaimed not-robot argued, apparently catching onto Lunick's words and sounding mildly offended at being called a robot.

Almost as one, the pair of us stood up shakily, gazing up at the kneeling giant.

Surprisingly, my brother was the one to make the first move.

"Oh yeah? Then what are you?" he asked boldly which surprised me a bit.

That's not to say that that my brother is cowardly or anything of the sort. But the way he spoke was almost rude which was so unlike him since he's never rude if he can help it.

The silver painted being studied us carefully through its visor, or at least, I think it was through the visor since I assumed that there were eyes behind the glowing blue screen.

"We're called autonomous robotic organisms," he explained gently, adding a little smile at the end in an attempt to seem more friendly. "Bu' ya'll can jus' call us Autobot's fo' short."

For a brief moment, Lunick and I exchanged a brief look before cautiously turning back to the…Autobot. However, I didn't fail to notice the use of the word 'us' as he spoke but I would have to broach that topic later.

"O-okay, is that what you go by or do you have a name?" Lunick asked tensely.

That's it Lu. Just keep stalling him so I can try to figure out a way for us get to escape.

"Mah designation be Jazz," the robot proclaimed proudly, smirking as he bowed theatrically. "And yours li'l man 'n lady?"

Immediately, Lunick went to answer but before he could my hand shot out and caught him by his left bicep, effectively stopping his words and making him turn to look at me.

"Don't," I hissed quietly, giving him a meaningful look. "It could be a trap," I said, glaring at the robot even as I spoke.

Lunick glanced over at the bot before turning back to me as he rolled his eyes. "Come on sis. He's practically harmless. I mean, if he wanted to hurt us, he could have done it already."

I vehemently shook my head a slight sneer threatening to make its way onto my face. "Just because he hasn't harmed us yet doesn't mean he won't still won't still try later. For all we know, this is a trick to earn our trust before they get us again."

Of course, the fool just shook his head stubbornly. Ignored the warning in my eyes, Lunick just shrugged my hand off as he turned to the robot and said before I could stop him, "Lunick, my name is Lunick. And this—"

"Lu," I growled warningly, only to be ignored.

"—is my sister, Solana."

Fool.

Technical genius my brother may be, but he was anything but adept at understanding other people's intentions and hidden motives. Unlike me, my brother was, in my opinion, foolishly naive and trusting when it came to others. He was rarely skeptical of anybody and always approached others with an open heart, under the foolish delusion that they were not capable of any evil.

And it was that youthful optimism that I knew was going to get him killed one day; he had already nearly hurt himself more than once that way if it hadn't been for my intervention. And I wasn't about to let it actually happen anytime soon.

But why wasn't my brother listening to me? He usually listened to my advice about people when I gave it. So why wasn't he listening now?

"Nice ta meet ya," Jazz greeted, directing a smile my way, his visor lighting up fractionally.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I felt slightly proud of myself when his smile faltered a little at the deep scowl and intense glare he received from me.

"It's er,...nice to meet you too Jazz," Lunick said awkwardly, trying to cover up for my less than warm greeting, shooting a brief glare in my direction.

The robot turned back to my sibling, apparently more comfortable with the friendlier twin than the hostile one.

My eyes narrowed on the silver being. I would have to keep an eye on him and make sure that he didn't manage to dig his claws into my brother; I would not allow him to harm my brother in any way if I could help it. And I could help it.

I was the exact opposite of my twin when it came to social interactions and trust.

I did not trust strangers. I did not trust people. I do not trust anyone except my brother and myself. How Lunick could not look at someone without a lick of suspicion would forever elude me it seemed. In my opinion, humans—or any sentient being for that matter—in general were a stupid, lying and untrustworthy race to be regarded with suspicion at all times. Of course, that paranoia made it hard for me to make friends, but I did not care since all I needed was my brother; the rest of the world could screw itself for all I cared if I had him by my side.

"So...whatcha younglings doin' down 'ere?" the Autobot asked, curiously.

"None of your damn business, robot," I spat out venomously, causing him to recoil a bit. "And we are not children for your information."

Yes, I knew full well that he had a name but I refused to even think about it on the account that I needed to have no emotional attachments when—not if—the time came to…cut all ties with him.

Lunick immediately slapped a hand over my mouth. "Sorry, my sister forgot to take her anti-asshole meds this morning," he said with a falsely bright smile.

Even in the dim light, I could see out of the corner of my eye as my twin shot a glare at me. And maybe I deserved it, but I sure as hell wasn't going to apologize. Especially since the words would not be sincere on my part.

"Dat's cool. Da li'l lady doesn't trust meh."

"Damn right," I muttered, though thankfully no one heard me.

"Anyways, what are you doing down here, Jazz?" Lunick asked, curiosity gleaming in his eyes.

"Ah−...I don't know," the robot said frowning and dropping his accent.

Huh, so it was false.

Anyways, upon hearing those words, my eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion. The learned caution inside of me was screaming and hollering in my head that it could be a lie, a trick, a trap lure us into sympathizing with the bot and eventually causing us to lower our guard so as to capture us. Well if that was the case, I wasn't going to stand by and let that happen.

"What do you mean "I don't know"? It's obvious you're sentient so how can you not remember why you're here?" I snapped, taking a bold step forward, skepticism evident in my dirt covered features.

"Do you even remember how you got down here?" my twin asked, ignoring my rude tone and barbed question altogether.

Lunick you ignorant fool.

The silver titan seemed to think a bit but the frown did not fade. If anything, it seemed to increase fractionally in intensity. "N-no," Jazz said quietly, sounding slightly shaky like he was going to be violently ill or something.

Lunick looked troubled at that.

"What about friends or family?" he asked carefully.

The robot seemed to being going into some kind of shock by now. "N-no, there's nothing. I can't remember anything." He clutched his head as if in pain, before looking at us. "Why can't I remember anything?"

He sounded so lost as he said that, like a small child; it was hard to keep up my uncaring facade at that tone of voice. Hard but not impossible.

"You don't…?" my brother echoed before trailing off as the realization hit, comprehension dawning on his grime covered features.

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose irritably. Great. Just great. This guy had memory loss. Of all the aliens we could meet, it had to be a giant freaking sentient robot that had amnesia.

"Damn, I'm sorry Jazz. That's got to be awful," Lunick said in a low, sympathetic voice. "I…how…is there anything you do remember?" he ventured.

The metal being released a shaky breath—though I doubted that he really needed to do that—as he held his head in his sliver claws, shaking his head mournfully. "No, not really. Aside from basic info, there's nuthin' bu' little fragments—impressions and wisps—but not enough to string a full memory togetha."

The accent he used quavered, as if he was trying to sound stronger than he was but was having trouble keeping up a normal facade. Of course, I would probably have trouble too if I woke up and barely remembered anything except my name and species while I was stuck on an alien planet. Despite my best efforts to suppress the emotion, I couldn't help but feel a little bad for him. It wasn't the worst situation but it certainly wasn't the most ideal situation either.

Anyways, Lunick hissed in sympathy upon hearing that. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"What?" both Jazz and I squawked at the same time in utter surprise.

Unfortunately for Jazz, I was smaller and faster than him so I got to my brother first.

"Excuse me, did you just say "help him"?" I snarled in a low undertone. "We are not helping him. We're barely equipped to help ourselves as it is and you want to go about helping an amnesiac robot? Are you insane?!"

As I spoke, my voice rose to the point where I'm sure that even Jazz heard my words, but I didn't care all that much. I was mad...and scared. Lunick was being extremely foolish right now, his judgement obviously clouded. I did not want to risk my brother and his health, whether it be physical, emotional, or mental.

Lunick met my hard expression with one of his own. "No, but we are going to help him if we can."

"No we are not," I snapped back. "And could we even help him anyways? He's an 'effing giant robot if you haven't noticed!"

"Yes we are," he pressed stubbornly before Jazz could comment on my robot remark. "Why are you so opposed to this? What has he done to you?"

"I'm just trying to keep you alive dammit!" I retorted before growling and turning away from him as I threw my hands up in the air exasperatedly and said, "I don't know why I bother though since you are so obviously intent on getting yourself killed!"

"I can take care of myself just fine!"

At that, I whirled back around, another biting retort already at the tip of my tongue as well as a balled, ready to return fire or knock some sense into him. However, all that was stopped short when Jazz got in between us hollered, "That's enough!"

Both of us immediately fell silent. For such a large being, he had moved quite fast and now had a clawed hand pressed against both of our chests in an attempt to separate us.

"Don't touch me," I immediately snarled at Jazz, taking a couple steps back so as to avoid contact with his large, and surprisingly warm, metal hand.

The silver Autobot sighed, but after taking a deep breath, assumed a more gentle tone as he said, "Ya both need ta calm down, okay?"

I growled. "Listen you—"

Whatever angry comment I was going to say next, it was lost as just then there came a deep rumbling sound that seemed to originate from the very bowels the Earth.

It took me only a second to figure out what was going on but when I did, a blade of horror ran through me.

Completely forgetting our previous spat, Lunick and I shared a wide-eyed look.

"The tunnel system!"

"They're collapsing!"

God how could we have been so stupid?! One of those tunnels from before must be collapsing!

Leaping into action, my brother and I scrambled toward our stuff, carelessly throwing whatever we could into the bag. As soon as the last item made it in, the bag was zipped closed and slung over my shoulder. Looking around, we saw that clouds of dust were billowing out of the entrance we had come in from, signifying its imminent collapse.

"Dammit! The tunnel's collapsing! We're trapped!" I yelled over the din, struggling to stand from the force of the vibrations.

I probably won't ever repeat aloud in my lifetime, but I was scared. The previous panic I had felt when Jazz had woken up was now nothing in the face of the fear I felt now. Fear for my brother. I could care less about myself, but I was terrified about what would happen to my brother. Sure, I may have felt some concern in regards to my own personal safety—maybe even Jazz's too—but I was mostly concerned about my brother and little else.

All I could think at that moment was that we were going to die, and I had led my brother to his death. And so much for our freedom. We had made it, what? Twenty-four hours? And now we were going to die.

Just as I was about to accept the fact that at least we would die as free people, a metal hand closed around my waist. Startled, I looked to see that it was the robot, Jazz. He had grabbed me around the middle and was now lifting my small frame over to his shoulder, setting me down with surprising gentleness for a being his size.

"Hold on tight," he commanded as he did the same to my twin. Gone was the original look of cheery playfulness, now replaced by a serious yet determined expression as he scanned the cavern for escape routes.

He must have found one because the next moment he was shooting off as we clung to his back like a couple of oddly shaped barnacles.

Racing towards one area of the now visibly collapsing cavern, Jazz suddenly jumped upwards into what I belatedly realized was the large shaft we had found earlier. With ease, he scaled the vertically sloping tunnel like a spider.

The rumbling could now be heard from almost all around us, shaking me to my core as I clung to the robot even more tightly if it was possible. For now, all I could do is hope that we made it out alive.

* * *

So yeah, Solana's turning out to be a bit of a paranoid bitch…but with good reason. But that's all I will say.

Also, for those of you die-hard transformer fans, I hope I did well on Jazz's accent and personality. Let me know if should change up a line or something to make it seem more like him.

And yes, I am quite aware that this is another cliffie and that this chapter is once again short compared to my other stories. But you lot will just have to bear with me.

Anyways, hope you lot enjoyed. Please FEED THE REVIEW MONSTER. It's a ravenous thing. And don't forget to check out and VOTE ON MY POLLS. I don't care if you just PM me your vote or put it at the bottom of a review. Please and thank you!

Until next time folks!


	6. Goodbye and Hello Again

Howdy folks! Now I know you all want to kill me for so long a silence, but I have a legitimate excuse for my absence and that is school. This is my final year and my grades are tanking dangerously, so I had stop with the story writing and focus on other more important matters.

Still, thank you to all those who reviewed, favorited and followed me. However, a special shout out goes to **aquarius89** who basically kicked my tail into gear and got me to write this chapter. Thank you so much!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers or any other recognizable works. Please relax, read and review!

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Goodbye and Hello Again**

Climbing to the top of a rock shaft with no equipment is not as hard as it seems when you have a giant robot doing the work for you. Of course, I could have done without the rocking motions that were slightly nauseating and the constant reminders I was given to loosen my grip. Honestly, if they wanted me to not hold on so hard, then the robot shouldn't jiggle around so much when he was climbing! It was like he was practically dancing around on purpose just to annoy me or something. It was bad enough I had to listen to the animated chatter occurring between my naïve brother and aforementioned giant robot.

I had honestly tried to block it all out, but between trying to not lose my grip and monitoring my brother's words in case he accidentally revealed sensitive info—it was next to impossible. Hey, I may not be a one-trick pony, but I'm not a miracle worker either.

Which is why, when the sentient automaton (I refused to acknowledge it by name) finally managed to pull himself (and my brother and I) fully out of the shaft onto flat ground, I practically jumped off and kissed the ground out of sheer joy.

To the east, the sun looked as if it was just barely starting to rise, but it was a most welcome sight in any case, especially since we had spent the last couple of hours stumbling around in dark caves. I almost smiled.

To my left, I could see the shimmer of my twin's golden-blonde hair glint in the sunlight despite all the dust and muck we both were no doubt covered in; I imagined that mine was doing the same too.

Around us however, we were surrounded by nothing but green. Green forest, green trees, green grass. All green. It was quite different to all the usual gloomy grey, sterile white, and militant black my brother and I were accustomed to seeing. In fact, if I was the more cowardly type, I would even venture a stab that it was a little overwhelming, but I wasn't so that was neither here nor there. Catching my brother's gaze that now proved to be a beautiful Caribbean aqua in the morning sunlight, I knew he was thinking along the same lines as I was.

It's a twin thing. You wouldn't understand.

Stretching and causing a couple joints to pop loudly, Lunick smiled proudly, full lips and bright expression bringing more light to the clearing than any morning sun could in my opinion. "Finally, it's good to see the sun after so long," he said in a relieved tone, he and I the only ones present who could know the full meaning of that statement.

I merely grunted as the silver bot seemed to smile too, visor brightening a little.

"Yeah its cool ain't it?" he agreed, completely putting a damper on my somewhat good mood. I had been seriously hoping that he would just prove to be some kind of figment of my imagination and disappear.

Then as if we had all been doused in a barrel of ice-water, the mood in the clearing became more melancholy as two-thirds of those present finally realized something. I'll give you a hint and tell you that it certainly wasn't me; I was actually glad though it didn't show.

"So I guess this is where we part," Lunick finally sighed. He looked really put out about this fact, which is something I had difficulty understanding. After all, we hadn't exactly talked about what would happen after we had gotten out of the cave.

"Yeah ah guess so." Jazz sounded equally disappointed as him.

In hindsight, it seemed almost brutal to rip the new best buds apart. But what had to come next needed to be done. I just hated that I had to be the one to do it.

"Come on Lu. We need to go," I stated gruffly, emotionless mask in place. And with that said, I turned my back on them and started walking away into the trees, where I could hear the faint rumble of cars passing on a nearby road. Rude and demanding? Maybe. Necessary and smart? Yes. Not only that but it left Lunick with little room to argue and no choice but to follow after he said his farewells to Jazz.

Of course, as attached as he was to the bot, my brother started to protest. "But sis, couldn't we just—"

"Now!" I all but roared, not turning around; I almost never yelled at him. But now that I had, I could not do an about face to see the expression that I knew was painted on my brother's features. To see the shock, outrage, accusation...the heartbreak...I could not bear to see it.

"It's okay, Lu. Ya better catch up with yo' sista," I could hear Jazz soothe, making my blood boil with rage when my brother asked worriedly,

"But what about you, Jazz?"

Seriously, since when did my brother need someone else's validation besides my own to do something? Wasn't I the one who had always been there for him? So why was he trusting a mechanical being who he had barely known for a couple hours? Before I could do something that would no doubt give Lunick an excuse to take the robot along, I quickened my pace, tromping through the undergrowth loudly. However, that did not prevent me from hearing the bot's final response.

"Go. Ah'll be fine li'l man."

If anything else was said between the two, I did not hear it.

A few moments later, the pound of familiar footsteps, heavy with anger, issued from behind me, but I did not turn around. I did not want to see the expression on his face.

"How could you?" he hissed, angry tears of accusation tingeing his voice.

"Easy. I just say 'whatever' and walk away," I deadpanned, still refusing to turn around. I knew full well I was stepping into dangerous territory, but it was necessary. Or so I kept telling myself.

A hand shot out, grasping my shoulder in a surprisingly firm grip before its owner spun me about to face him. Schooling my face into a mask of stone as our identical Caribbean aqua gazes clashed, I inwardly cringed at the intense look on Lunick's face. "How could you?" he repeated, somehow putting every ounce of emotion he felt into those three simple words.

"I did what needed to be done," I replied tonelessly before immediately regretting my choice of words, hoping uselessly that he had not heard them.

"What?"

By now his tone was reaching dangerous levels which was a really, really bad thing. With the hissed utterance of that single word, the air itself seemed to chill by several degrees as his eyes seemed to become an almost frosty arctic blue. The hand on my shoulder felt like ice but that could have been my imagination.

Stubbornly though, as was my way, I did not back down.

"You know as well as I do that we cannot afford to have extra baggage to weigh us down," I said. "Seriously, Lu, how would we look walking into town with a seventeen foot tall robot in tow? Hell! We can't even go into a city with him without attracting all the wrong kinds of attention to ourselves. Do you want that?" I didn't wait for him to answer. "I don't think so. And even if he were able to somehow magically disguise himself, he's still a liability. With no memories, or so he claims, he's still more of a hindrance than a help."

Now it was my twin's turn to look stony, though he was still definitely pissed as he sneered, "it sounds to me like you're just jealous and don't want him around."

Unbidden, I felt my cheeks start to flood with heated color as I ground out, "I am not jealous of that oversized toaster. Hell! I don't even give a fuck about what he does. I just don't want him getting us killed."

Tension filled the air, seeming to crackle between us as if charged by an electric current as we both stared each other down.

Finally though, Lunick sighed in a sort of nonverbal defeat, looking away.

"So this is how we live from now on?" he asked quietly. "Running and hiding in the shadows? Living in fear?"

Any traces of righteous anger I had in me were suddenly drained as if by a vacuum.

"Yes," came my equally quiet reply, tacking on to the end of it a mental 'for now'.

All became silent between us, our minds seeming to just comprehend that daunting prospect. That was end of all other conversations between us. Nothing more was said as Lunick merely exhaled in a defeated fashion before releasing his grip on my shoulder, brushing past me as he headed back towards the road.

I knew full well that he hadn't forgiven me for my callously spoken words but there was little I could do about it now. Shaking my head a bit in an attempts to clear it, I glanced back towards the trees, opposite of the direction Lunick had taken.

 _Goodbye Jazz and good luck. I hope you find your way._

Little did I know that the craziness was just getting started.

* * *

—Unknown PoV, Location Unknown—

 _Meanwhile_...

"Sir?" called a lackey when two red dots appeared on the screen in front of him. Him and about a dozen other similarly dressed men and women were sitting in a room, all working on computer screens, performing various tasks on them.

"What is it?" the man standing in the middle of the room snapped as he continued to monitor all the proceedings around him.

The years had not been kind to him. He was paler than the average human and more scars ran across his features. The only thing that hadn't changed was his close cropped hair that still somehow managed to be paler than his skin.

Anyways, the man who had spoken first did not recoil at the tone his superior used, being quite accustomed to hearing it. "Their signals just came back online," he informed swiftly, referring to the two beacons shown on his screen. "We've found them."

The man turned toward him at that, a predatory look on his lightly scarred features. "Their location?"

The grunt typed a couple things into the computer before answering. "Oregon. Just outside of a town called Odell."

The grin widened to feral proportions. "Good. Send out a team to retrieve them."

Immediately, the lackey hopped to, jumping to comply to his leader's command like a starved wolf on a slab of meat. His fingers danced wildly across the keyboard before him, sending out the message that would doom two individuals.

Meanwhile, the man in charge chuckled softly to himself, sending chills down the spines of those who heard it.

"You can run but you can't hide."

* * *

—Later, Solana's PoV—

Never in my life have I hated silence more than at this particular moment. Give me shotgun fire, the thunder of jet engines, or the blast of bombs and grenades detonating, and I will be right at home. But this particular silence was absolutely maddening.

After reaching the road, my brother and I had managed to hail down and hitch a ride with a kind—but stupidly generous—old woman named Candice Longshare. When we had explained to her how our parents' car had broken down a ways back and they had sent us on ahead to find an area to call a tow truck, she was more than happy to offer us a ride to town, delighted to have company. She seemed nice enough, but I didn't trust her, never letting my guard down once.

Steering her away from more sensitive topics like in-depth background info had proved easy enough when my brother had artfully asked her about her own family, sending her on a long tangent about how adorable her grandchildren were.

Personally, Candy, as she insisted on being called, seemed too trusting in my opinion, especially just letting a couple random teens hitch a ride with her, but to each their own I guess. She was entitled to her stupidity, and I was entitled to my skepticism and paranoia.

Anyways, at this point in time, I was ready to scream in frustration. Lunick had managed to singlehandedly take the silent treatment to a whole new and completely maddening level. Somehow, he had perfected the technique of talking with me but not actually talking with me. To put it simply, his perfect facade made it look like he was avidly talking with me, but the way his eyes just seemed to pass over me, as if I wasn't there, or how he talked to me only when necessary, were enough to give me an idea of how mad he was at me.

I tried my best not to take his behavior to heart. I knew that he knew that I was right. He just wasn't willing to admit it yet. Nonetheless, a sigh escaped me as I stared out the window; that was just one of my brothers' many flaws. He got attached to stuff so easily but was never willing to let it go when he needed to. Not that I blame him, especially after all we've been through.

Knowing there was nothing I could do for my brother, I just returned his silence, though I did acknowledge him since it was all I could do to stop myself from screaming and ripping out my hair in frustration.

Finally, _finally_ , after forty-three minutes and seventeen seconds of Candy cheerfully blabbering away about her perfect little family, and Lunick pointedly ignoring me, we arrived at the small town of Odell. Stepping from the backseats of the beat-up old truck, I was about ready to kiss the ground and cry un-Solana-like tears of joy out of sheer relief. Thankfully, though I managed to keep myself together as we said our goodbyes to Candy before heading into town without a backwards glance.

As soon as the old woman was out of sight, we both asked one another in unison, "So what do we do now?"

There was a pause as Lunick and I just looked at each other oddly for a moment, a little surprised, before breaking out in identical grins that only twins could share and effectively shattering the tension between us. Some things just never get old.

"Okay, seriously, what do we do?" I asked my twin as we started walking. He was the smarter one after all.

Lunick looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I guess the necessities would be first. Food, water—" He began, listing them off on his fingers.

"A decent place to sleep," I interrupted and he nodded as he continued.

"Some new clothes wouldn't hurt either," he admitted, referring to our rather drab attire.

"Yeah, and a shower. We look like we ran through a muddy cornfield or something," I remarked, looking down at myself and wrinkling my nose. For a moment there, I was going to say warzone instead of cornfield but I don't think either of us wanted to hear that word at the moment. "And I seriously doubt we exactly smell like roses right now.

"Too right," he agreed, expression matching mine. "So toiletries and what else?"

"Library," I immediately stated, making Lunick do a double-take and look at me like my hair color was messing with my brain cells. Hey, just because I will take a fully-equipped gym over a library with over a century's worth of reading doesn't mean that I don't know what one is or will act like I'm allergic to it. Anyways, ignoring his look, I said, "Or access to a map or laptop and Wi-Fi. We need to know more about our geographical location and where we're going. They're no doubt still looking for us so we need to plan where we're going next and have a back-up plan if that fails just in case."

Considering the idea, Lunick eventually nodded, humming in agreement. "Good thinking, sis."

I rolled my Caribbean aqua eyes in exasperation at the way he said it, like I just managed to say something sensible for once in my life. Honestly, just because I'm basically the brawn of our duo doesn't mean I don't have some intelligence.

Anyways, after a couple minutes of walking, a delicious smell reached our noses, causing us to halt and sniff the air like dogs on a scent. It was like smoke except more edible, and it was coming from this small, outdoors fast food grill across the road from us with an active smoker out back. Whatever it was they had cooking out there though, it was creating the most delectable, mouthwatering smell ever. Already, I could feel my stomach start to clench in hunger, obviously not satisfied with the meager breakfast it had been provided some unknown amount of hours ago. Obviously my brother felt the same because I'm pretty sure that it was his stomach I heard growl lowly a second later.

Looking at each other with expressions mirroring those of ravenous wolves, we said at the same time "food first" before running off towards the place at the top speed. Hey, any smart person would do the same if you smelled something so effing delicious. Unless, you are a vegetarian, that is.

It did not take us long to get our food but that may have had something to do with the pitying looks the owner was giving us as he served us our food. Still, with a doubled order of a milkshake, a basket of homemade fries, and two 'The Stud' burgers, and the feeling like the rolling home, we felt a lot better. Though to be quite honest, I have no idea how we managed to scarf all that down as fast as we did and not get sick.

Now only thing that could make this day even better was a hot shower and a fresh change of clothes. Still, even as we headed off to complete the rest of our agenda, I couldn't help the feeling of foreboding that settled over me, like this was only the calm before the storm. But maybe that was just my paranoid imagination speaking.

* * *

—Later—

Unfortunately for us, my brother and I did not get the hot shower we wanted. Only a brief and very cold wipe down in the bathroom of the local gas station, which suffice to say, sucked. Still, we were nonetheless thankful to at least get the majority of the grime off our persons. The gas stations manager was even kind enough to give us directions to Odell's nearest and only supermarket too, a place called Zeke's. Sadly, though, he informed us that the town of Odell did not have a public library either. Apparently, it was too small and out of the way for one to be considered appropriate. In any event though, we manage to make ourselves look somewhat presentable along the way by pilfering a couple 'new'—okay, so they actually slightly used—clothes from one of those clothing donation boxes outside of the grocery store. Pretty soon, we were both decked out in one of our new pairs of oversized jeans held up by a couple strips of cloth we had fashioned into makeshift belts, and wearing a pale shirt that depicted a cast of characters from some media called 'Super Mario' on the front and back (me) and another one that was colored grey and said in plain black, bold lettering 'Good morning, I see the assassins have failed' (Lunick). The shoes had to stay though as the bin had none in our size.

Still, we more or less felt pretty proud of ourselves as, after a fifteen-minute stroll, we walked through the sliding glass doors into the white tiled entrance of the small but brightly lit store known as Zeke's. Over the incessant beeping coming from the check-out area and the loud bawling of someone's brat somewhere in the store, we could hear soft music playing from the overhead speakers, the male artist on there singing some kind of encouragement for his "wayward son" to "carry on." Carry on with what? I really don't know, but the tune was attractive and rather upbeat in an invigorating kind of way, so I took it as a good sign, ignoring the otherwise creeping feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Sharing a look with my twin that held many mixed and unspoken emotions, Lunick and I nodded to each other before turning and walking in opposite directions. On the way here, we had both reluctantly agreed that things would work faster if we split up. Truth be told, neither of us were really sold on the idea of splitting up—I mean, come on, we're practically glued at the hip—but in the end we agreed that it was necessary. Lunick had volunteered to get food and water, while I was to get toiletries and other necessities. It wasn't my idea, but his reasoning was that I was a girl and therefore would not look out of place in those particular isles. In response to that comment, I had flipped him the bird before grumbling an agreement.

Anyways, as we grew further and further apart, I realized how weird it felt not being anywhere near my twin. Like I said, we rarely ever left each other's company voluntarily, so we had grown accustomed to each other's presences. Now that we were apart though, I felt almost naked, my skin crawling and my paranoia levels being jacked up to ridiculous levels, which should not have been possible since I'm already a paranoid person by nature.

Multiple times, I had to remind myself to relax, but that was almost pointless; I felt like a coiled spring, ready to jump at the slightest sound. Everywhere I went, I swore that I saw someone watching me, only to realize a second later that it was just a figment of my overactive imagination, not a gunman waiting to shoot me as soon as I let my guard down. Of course, I don't think it helped that we were basically shoplifting a little over half of what we needed. Trust me, neither of us were happy with the idea of shoplifting either, but it was necessary. We both knew that we had to use our money sparingly for now, so we had no other choice but to shoplift what we could and purchase as little items as possible to avoid suspicion.

Thankfully though, my little shopping venture went off without a hitch, but I kept feeling like I had eyes watching me, like the other people I saw were staring at me. Mind you, they weren't. But I wouldn't have blamed any of them for glancing back at me curiously because of how tense and uncomfortable I no doubt looked.

Still, acting like a normal, everyday shopper was rather unusual for me as I had never done this before, though I did know what it took. Glancing around at the other customers, I couldn't help but wonder what was going through their minds right now. It was probably just mundane stuff, but it was because of that simplistic mindset that made me envy them a little.

Like the lone woman who was only a couple year older than me. She had to worry about her job, money, maybe even school if she was in college. And maybe in her future she would find mister right, have some novel-like romance, get married and live the American dream. She wasn't so messed up that she felt alienated in society, among even her own kind.

The elderly couple I saw trundling about the store and passed by every so often didn't have worries like mine either. The most they had to worry about was locating the correct items that wouldn't upset their health or finding someone that was tall enough to reach the items on the shelves that were out of their grasp. They had already lived full lives yet they too still had so much ahead of them. No one was going to be hunting them. They would probably pass peacefully into the next life during the night without even a flicker of pain.

The young mother and her three small children were safe too. Her worries were solely centered on the welfare of her kids; her own needs coming second. She would want to make sure she had enough of this type of food to feed her growing children and keep them health and active, or that she would have the proper items to make lunches for kids to take to school in the coming days. As their mother, she would do her best to look out for her family with the help of her husband, no doubt.

Looking at the small family, I wondered if my parents would be like that. My twin and I could barely remember them, let alone recall what they looked like. The most I had was a brief, blurred image in my mind, that I wasn't sure even was a memory, of a figure calling out that they would find me and my brother again; that they loved us.

I shook my head and continued on.

Ignorance really was bliss for them, meanwhile my brother and I had spent that last several years of our life in living hell.

In any event, aside from the ghosts I saw as a result of my paranoia, I met up with my brother at the checkout with nary even a high-velocity spud flying my way. Just looking at him, I could tell he felt as weirded out by our separation as I did; the tension draining only slightly from his shoulders when he came to stand only a foot away from me. Neither of us said a thing as we moved to stand behind the old-time couple, an elderly man and his tiny wife, in a checkout line, but I don't think either one of us missed the small look of relief reflected in each other's eyes.

It was only after we had at long last cleared the checkout lanes, that Lunick was finally the first to speak. "Hey, I'm gonna go talk to that important-looking guy over there and ask for some directions, okay?" he said.

Sparing a brief glance for the man my brother was referring to—probably the manager if I had to guess—I nodded to him in a slightly distracted manner. Unlike all the times before, that persistent feeling of being watched hadn't just gone away but instead increased in pressure by tenfold, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to rise in an almost painful way.

Trying to appear casual, I furtively glanced about the store once more. Aside from my brother and I, very few people were in this part of the store and none of them really caught my eye.

There was the mother and her three children checking out in another line a couple lanes over, trying to simultaneously keep her kids in line and put groceries on the belt. To my far left, the elderly couple from before was slowly hobbling their way out of the store. In the nearby magazine section, a lone man was nondescriptly leafing through a women's fashion-lifestyle magazine. I had seen him a couple times in the store. Elsewhere, two other employees were supervising empty checkout lanes, looking quite bored. And finally, Lunick and the manager seemed to be pouring over an open map, talking quietly but in an animated manner. They were probably talking about directions and whatnot.

Wait, the magazine guy…

"Hey, you alright?" asked a voice to my left.

I jumped, turning around to face Lunick with a scowl on my face. "Don't scare me like that."

Under normal circumstances, he probably would have smirked playfully and teased me a bit, but something must have shown on my face as Lunick shot me a concerned look.

"What is it?" he asked quietly, those blue-green orbs of his showing everything and nothing as he took in my uneasy expression.

I didn't answer, merely glancing back at the vacant space the suspicious man had once occupied. Focusing back to my brother, I took note of how he seemed to be watching me, no doubt having followed my gaze. "Nothing," I grunted, shaking my head. "Come on."

He gave me a look but didn't ask nor argue, instead opting to follow my lead out of the store. We both knew that I would probably tell him about it later anyways.

"So what did you learn?" I finally asked once we were outside.

Still wary of my earlier behavior, Lunick took a moment before answering. "Well, we're not too far from the border of Washington. The state, I mean, not the capital."

"What about the nearest cities?" I prodded, listening intently.

"Well the closest ones within the state are Portland, Gresham, and Hillsboro. And I use the word 'closest' mildly. It looks as if we might have to go across the Columbia River into Washington if we want to get there, unless you wanna go into Idaho."

"Overachiever," I muttered under my breath, earning a glare from said 'overachiever'. "Well I think it would be smarter to stay in the state. They'll probably expect us to attempt to get out of the state first so as to get as far away as possible."

"And how is going to a city with dozens of cameras and millions ways of being spotted, different, O' wise one?" my twin mocked.

I just rolled my eyes. "Because us getting spotted is exactly what I'm counting on. Once they find that we're not anywhere near the border, they'll all flock to the city to capture us. That's when we disappear. So we will eventually cross over into another state, but we're just not doing it right away."

"Oh."

Okay, so now you're probably wondering why, if I'm the supposed muscle of the operation, why is Lunick deferring to me now, right? Well let me explain; yes, I am still the glorified muscle of our duo and Lunick is the brains. But Lunick only really specializes in tech and mechanics and long-term planning. That's what makes him so genius in my book. Meanwhile, I may be a bit of a muscle bound thug but I'm also the tactician, especially when I comes to short-term plans. I'm essentially the one who comes up with a plan and effective strategy, and Lunick is the one who uses his technical smarts to make it happen. So where I fall short, my brother excels and vice versa; it's what makes us the perfect combo.

Snorting at his oh-so-intelligent response, we trekked on.

Of course, like all good things, it must come to an end, and our pursuer-free day had just timed out.

At first, nothing seemed even remotely wrong. Lunick was curiously studying our surroundings as we walked, and I was content with the silence. We passed a couple people walking around, returning their waves and smiles when they chose to greets us, but nothing was off.

And that's when I saw it. I just happened to glance into the mirror of a nearby car and found a familiar man following behind us. The magazine guy! There was no mistaking him. Military bearing, close cut hair, simple clothes but heavy duty, steel-toed boots. Yeah, he definitely did not strike me as the women's fashion-lifestyle magazine type.

My eyes narrowed.

"Hey Lu, let's take a left up at this corner," I said, keeping my tone light and nonchalant as possible. Never once did I lose my stride or tense up, continuing at a normal pace so as to not act suspicious. Besides, we didn't know if this was just a coincidence or on purpose.

Glancing at me, my twin looked as though he was going to say something, opening his mouth to speak. Quickly, I met his gaze silently bidding him to humor me. "Sure," he eventually said.

Pretending to smile and chuckle a little like something he said was funny—he seriously looked weirded out at this point—before slinging and arm around his shoulder. As we turned said corner, I carefully leaned in and whispered, "Don't look now, but we have a tail."

Almost like a switch had been flipped in his brain, Lunick also plastered a smile to his face, likewise wrapping and arm around my waist. He was completely at ease, acting for all the world as if he had just been named the next up and coming genius of the century. However the joy never reached his eyes, those blue-green orbs hardened until they resembled shards of sea-ice.

All in all, he was the perfect actor; we both were.

Randomly starting to gabble about something or other to him, I unobtrusively used the hand hanging over my brother's shoulder to point at a nearby reflection so he could get a glimpse at our little stalker.

"He's got company," he muttered.

"How many?"

"Just one, but there's probably more around here somewhere." His grip on my waist tightened a bit.

"Damn! How the hell did they find us so quickly?" I hissed rhetorically, mentally kicking myself over this lapse in judgement. We were just lucky we hadn't been shot on sight or something yet. Still, there was no doubt in our minds as to who had sent the dogs after us.

Lunick shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Right now we need to lose them and find a way out of this town."

I nodded in agreement, mind working at a million miles per hour, trying to figure out a strategic solution.

This town was small, too small. They could no doubt have this town surrounded within minutes so attempting to lose them in a crowd or something was out of the question. But they didn't seem über intent on killing us either, which means that they must want us back alive. Well not if we could help it. Anyways, they weren't leaving us with many options. We'd have to find a way to sneak out into the woods and either hitch a ride with someone else or come back later and steal a car. The latter seemed the safest option though. Now all that was left to do was ditch the tail.

"Lunick, when I tell you to, we're gonna take off running down the street and try to lose them as quickly as possible okay?" I whispered rhetorically. "We'll head for the woods and come back later and get ourselves a car."

He nodded. "Okay, sounds good Lana, tell me when."

"Ready? One, two, three…Now!"

We took off running, taking a sharp left at another corner, and continuing to hightail it to the end of the sidewalk and beyond as the men pursued us. The fact that we had huge packs strapped to our backs didn't help much, but we did our best. It seemed pointless to risk steal stuff only to toss the hard-earned goods for the sake of going faster. I guess it was a good thing that Lu and I were both a bit more physically capable than most people our age.

Of course, then again, I was the one who was more physically inclined. Not to mention, we were full out sprinting, so it was not surprise when I eventually heard my brother start to complain after several random turns.

"No…more…running," he moaned in between pants.

Despite the serious situation, I chuckled, a little breathless but not as badly as my brother. "What? Having a little trouble there baby bro?"

Much to my amusement, he didn't reply. My brother, for all that mental muscle he had, wasn't all that great at physical activity. I made a mental note to later tease him about his lack of denial to the 'baby bro' comment once we got out of this situation.

"Right!" I called, causing us to take the next right.

"Where the fuck are we going?!" Lu screeched at me.

"Wherever is farthest from them!" I retorted.

"Yeah because that answer makes me feel so much better!"

We took a couple random, sharp turns, but it wasn't helping. Our pursuers were steadily gaining on us, no doubt due to the fact that our weighted bags were slowing us down considerably.

Dammit! This wasn't how it was supposed to end.

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched whine like the hum of a powerful engine from the road just up ahead. Oh-no…. What could it be now? We're they trying to box us in?

Managing to exchange a glance with my twin, I saw mutual panic in his gaze.

No! No! No! It can't end this way!

Skidding to a stop a couple inches from the road, we expected to see one of those black, military-styled Jeeps, or even those slick green and black pursuit vehicles that we had become familiar with during our years of torture. Instead though, a gleaming small, silver car screeched to a halt right in front of us, the passenger side door flying open even before the vehicle had fully stopped.

"Get in!" a familiar voice demanded.

We didn't even hesitate to consider that it may be a trap. Both of us just dove in, one after the other, jumping in slight surprise as the door then slammed shut as soon as the last of my shoe cleared the hatch.

"Go! Go! Go!" my brother and I hurriedly ushered whoever was driving, desperate to get away.

"Ah'm on it. Buckle up!" said the same familiar voice as the engine revved challengingly before the car shot forward, taking less than a couple seconds to make the speedometer jump from zero to sixty. Before we knew it, we were peeling out of there like a bolt from the blue, losing our pursuers quite soundly in the process too.

However, all these facts went unnoticed by the two of us as we gaped open-mouthed at the empty driver's seat and the radio from which the all too familiar voice had issued.

"Jazz?!"

* * *

And that's a wrap folks!

Please favorite, follow, and REVIEW! Trust me, the Review monster is ever a hungry beast that needs constant feeding. Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter out soon but that may take awhile what with school and my other stories.


	7. The Start of Something New

Hey guys! Here's another one for you! In all honesty though, this chapter is really more of a filler kind of thing. I actually wrote most of this story out, and I have been going through all my notes and stuff and boy is it a mess. I've got random blurbs, snippets, info, and 'chapters' all over the place!

Still, thank you to those who reviewed, favorited and followed me and this story! You guys are truly inspirational.

To **Loki Tyv** : Essentially, yes, that is a great way to sum up things. I especially like how you used the phrase 'shadow organization'. I may have to borrow it sometime. As for the twins' personalities...You'll find out later that while they are a tad similar to the original Terror Twins, they are quite different. Though the potentiality for Solana to be called 'Sunny' was definitely purposeful on my part. The same can be said for Primus' vague remarks; you will find out in time as the story progresses. I just prefer to kick my stories off with a proper, detailed start, so any vague or mysterious comments you find may should eventually be addressed in the future. And do not worry, I don't plan on ever abandoning this story or any of my other's; I know that I hate it when good stories are stopped short, so it would be unfair to do the same to you and everyone else. :D

Anyways, relax, read, review and enjoy this new one. I apologize if it is short and will try to get more out soon.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers in any way, shape, form, or deviation. The same goes for any other recognizable works in here. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The Start of Something New**

"Jazz?!"

There were not enough words in the English language to appropriately describe how thoroughly confused Solana was. Actually, she did think there were any appropriate words in _any_ language she could think of as a matter of fact. One minute they were getting supplies, the next they were being followed, then they were running for their lives, and then a silver car mysteriously appeared in front of them, rescued them and now Jazz's voice was issuing from the radio and the driver's seat was empty...It was just all so disorienting.

"Ey, ya miss meh?" came the teasing words of the bot from the radio, as the vehicle took several sharp turns. You didn't even need to glance at the needle of the speedometer to know that they were going _fast_ ; that much was easy to tell by the way all other vehicles were left to choke on their dust in the rearview mirrors.

Both the twins' jaws dropped, managing to look even more ridiculous despite managing to land themselves in another tangled mess of limbs in the passenger's side seat.

"But— What—? How—?" Lunick somehow managed to splutter out as Lana was still too preoccupied with trying to comprehend what was going on. At this point, she almost resembled a fish out of water with how her mouth kept opening like she was going to say something before closing mutely again, apparently too shocked to say anything, much less invent some barbed retort.

The entire vehicle seemed to vibrate with Jazzs' laughter. "Ah'll take tha' as a yes."

"But how did you...?" Lu trailed off, mentally struggling to find the right question to ask.

The car vibrated again. "Ah've got powers beyond yo' comprehension, li'l man."

Contrary to his sister's still shocked reaction, Lunick's blue-green eyes lit up excitedly as he started to grasp the full reality of this situation. "But you're a car! You're a damn, freaking Pontiac Solstice!"

Those words were either the right or wrong thing to say because they seemed to effectively snap Solana out of her muteness while Jazz laughed amusedly. Shifting a bit so that she and her brother were now crammed together, side-by-side in the passengers' side seat. The golden-haired girl rolled her Caribbean aqua eyes, crossing her arms over her chest and composing her expression into a fierce scowl which was directed at the radio where the bot's voice seemed to emanate from. "Thank you Captain Obvious. We totally hadn't noticed," she muttered in the driest, most sarcastic undertone she could muster.

Lunick glared at her. "Cork it brat," he said, his voice holding an explicit warning that told her to either say something nice or stop talking now.

Determinedly though, Solana ignored him, more focused on another pressing topic. "So how did you find us...Jazz?" she asked, hesitantly adding the bot's name as an afterthought.

The mirth seemed to drain out of the slang-speaking oddity, replaced by anxiety as he said nervously, "Ummm...magic?"

Lana did not miss how he said it like a question. "You followed us _didn't you_?" she accused, eyes narrowed at the radio.

The bot laughed nervously, and if he were human, she could almost imagine him nervously rubbing the back of his neck or tapping his fingers together nervously. "Uhhh...maybe?"

The scowl turned darker, glare turning from heated to scorching. Of course, Solana did not care how frightening the look on her face was. She wanted to make it very clear how much she disapproved of his actions. Actually, the word 'disapproved' barely covered how much she really disliked the bot. Not only was he going to end up hurting her brother, but he had decided to follow them like they were incapable of surviving on their own. Sol didn't know whether she should be insulted or just plain furious.

"Okay, so I followed you two!" the bot eventually caved, clearly unable to handle the ferocity of the girl's ire.

 _Serves him right_...

She was about to say something else, but a familiar hand caught her wrist bringing a—much welcome—stop to her words. Glancing over, identical pools of Caribbean aqua clashed; the only difference being that one seemed lighter and more hopeful than the other, more stern one.

Neither said a thing, but they didn't need to, somehow managing to communicate multiple things with just a couple silent looks and raised brows.

Eventually though, Solana looked away, sighing and rubbing the bridge of her nose tiredly like she was trying to suppress an oncoming headache. Whatever had been said however, she certainly didn't seem too pleased while her brother definitely seemed happy, though he tried to not seem overly so.

"Jazz," she began softly, the verbalization of the name seeming to physically pain her. "As much as I should be pissed at you..."

She trailed off, looking uncomfortable, so her brother took over.

"Thanks for the save," Lunick finished with a small smile of appreciation on his face.

"Yo' welcome," he chirped, an evident smile in his voice.

Silence reigned for a stretch after that, the only sound being the humming of Jazz's engine. But Lana knew it was only a matter of time before the robot decided to pop the question she knew he had to be thinking. It was only a matter of time.

"So..." the bot eventually began.

Solana's knuckles went white. _Here it comes_ , she thought, bracing herself for impending question.

"Where we headin' now?"

Lana was so surprised by the unexpectedness of the question, she didn't even bother masking it, stuttering a bit as she could not help but repeat incredulously, " _We_?"

 _Uh-oh_.

* * *

—Elsewhere, Location Unknown, Unknown PoV—

"Sir, they lost them."

The response to that statement was immediate and explosive. "What?! How can you lose two children?" another voice said.

Surprisingly, the first party did not falter or cringe as he said, "A third party arrived on the scene in a silver sports car and aided the subjects in their escape, just moments before our forces were about to apprehend them."

There was a frustrated grunt from the second party. "No matter. Are we still tracking them?"

"Affirmative. They are currently heading West, towards Gresham and Portland."

There was a low rumble this time. "Find them and recapture them at all costs."

* * *

—Solana's PoV—

Why me? Why does the world hate me so? What did I do to deserve this kind of punishment?

Mentally, I groaned, resisting the urge to bang my forehead against the glass of the car door I was smooshed against. Considering my current situation, I wanted to touch as little as possible if I could help it.

Confused? Let me recap things for you.

For more than thirteen years of our eighteen years of life, my twin brother, Lunick, and I were affiliated with an organization that used, enhanced and molded us into the perfect fighting team. Super soldiers if you will.

Less than 12 hours ago, my brother and I finally escaped. I wouldn't recommend asking how though; I can barely even believe our luck as it is.

Thirty minutes after that, we both swan-dived into a mysterious hole during our escape attempt and managed to stumble across a network of underground tunnels. Logically, we, of course, explored them as our way in mysteriously disappeared.

An hour later, we made the discovery of a lifetime: a giant, but thankfully inactive, robot. Exhausted from the day's events, however, we both fell asleep almost directly after making a through sweep of the cavern we were in.

Seven hours ago, I awoke from a really weird dream, which in turn lead to a series of events in which the robot was activated and proved to be a sentient being from a distant planet who also conveniently had memory-loss. Lunick believed him almost immediately and began trying to make friends with the quirky bot whose name was Jazz; I severely disapproved.

Ten minutes after we had all calmed down, a new problem presented itself in the form of a nearly fatal cave-in had Jazz not grabbed both my brother and I and carried us out of there via climbing up a rock shaft that was just the right size for the metallic titan to scale. Convenient, right?

Finally, after twenty minutes of climbing up, up, up, we managed to arrive aboveground, much to my extreme delight. After that, my twin and I quickly parted ways with the bot at my insistence.

Five hours ago, we arrived at the nearest town and gathered what supplies we could before our pursuers caught up to us again. But just when we thought all hope was lost and we thought we were done for, a new party showed up on the scene at the last minute and rescued us. However, it was revealed to us that our savior was anything but new to us, as it was Jazz the Autobot from Cybertron who had taken the form of a Pontiac Solstice and rescued us.

Now, four, torturous hours later, here I was, sitting stiff as a board inside a sentient robot next to my brother in the passenger's seat listening to said robot and my brother 'bond'. It would have been menial and completely ignorable, except the current subject of interest was comparing Cybertronian and human intimacies. Two words: Extremely. Awkward. I was doing my best to ignore them but that kind of subject understandably brings down even the mightiest of people; my cheeks were even starting to turn a faint rosy color as I stared determinedly out the window with a scowl place.

Whatever happened to the quiet game? Oh no wait, it doesn't apparently work on those two.

Anyways, so far, we hadn't seen any sign of our pursuers. But that still left the question of how they had found us in the first place. I had suggested once that might have planted a tracker somewhere on us, but we had already thrown out our old clothes and could find nothing on any of the other stuff we had stolen before we had escaped. Then Lunick had gone and suggested the idea that it was embedded in our skin. It was a nauseating thought in my opinion but more than likely since we had heard about them developing invisible, skin-deep trackers. Much to my secret relief and obvious annoyance, Jazz performed some kind of medical scan of our bodies and assured us that our bodies were tracker free.

So that left only one possible option for us; they had run a face-trace on us, setting every available camera they could get their sticky paws on to scan for our features. That really didn't settle well with me either though; I didn't like the idea that they could find us whenever they wanted (and when we were least expecting).

In any case though, Jazz advised that we put the matter out of our minds or now. We would only drive ourselves insane trying to puzzle this out without all the pieces. Reluctantly, I agreed, though that didn't stop me from acting like my usual paranoid self. (AKA, giving him the cold shoulder and dirty looks).

So, for now, all we could do was hope and continue on our way down the road set before us. Both figuratively and literally.

* * *

—Optimus' PoV—

Standing to the side but still managing to look as regal as any Prime, Optimus watched as his soldiers, the Autobot's, interacted with their human allies. He wondered if he was doing right by accepting the humans' help and putting them in danger. They had already lost so many good boys in this seemingly endless conflict. The most recent casualty being Jazz.

At the name, his thoughts immediately took a dark turn. They all felt the loss of the Autobot saboteur. Even their first human allies had felt the loss, despite having only known the bot a few scant minutes.

Jazz was always a unique bot, he thought. Despite formerly being a law enforcer, he was one of the more lighthearted bots that could make those around him smile no matter what. Not to mention, he was one of the best saboteurs he had seen and had this incredible knack for picking up other species' cultures. He was a close friend to all, and the loss of him affected everyone.

But they all had their methods of coping with it. The wounds, while still quite fresh, would heal in time but still (visibly) hurt, seen in the eyes and mannerisms of all. But they would heal even if the scar didn't fully close.

"We all miss him Prime," Ironhide's gruff voice jarred him out of his deep thoughts.

He focused on the black mech, who was one of his oldest friends alongside Ratchet, his CMO.

He nodded solemnly. "Yes, but I cannot help but wonder if all this loss of life is worth it for this seemingly endless war. If I should—"

The weapons specialist cut him off. "No. Don't you go there Prime. What's past is past (as the humans say). We can't change that. Do not let their sacrifice be in vain by forgetting for what we are fighting for."

Optimus hummed, nodding in agreement. "You are right, old friend. I sometimes forget myself."

Ironhide grunted. "Of course I'm slagging right, Prime. If you didn't think so, then I'd send you to the Hatchet's lair after I finished using you for target practice," he threatened.

The Prime didn't respond, just chuckled lowly as the Autobot weapon specialist was then nailed in the back of the helm with a flying wrench.

* * *

And there you have it! I hope this chapter will tide you guys over just a bit until I can update again (hopefully soon).

Also, please check out my new poll. It has been up for a while but so far only 2 people have participated in it, and I need more.

Please Favorite, Follow, and REVIEW.

Have a wonderful rest of your day!


	8. Nightmares

Hey all! Ya miss me? Sorry about not updating recently. College life is as amazing as the homework is torturous. And this is only community college!

Anyways thank you to all who have read and favorited, reviewed and followed myself and this story. Unfortunately, the updates for this will still be irregular. Sorry, but I try not to force my work when I have time to write.

To **Wildspark** : Hahaha, now that I think of it, I have to agree with you.

To **Cinematronix** : Okay, let me just say that you're review was probably the most hilariously awesome review I have read yet in my entire time on fanfiction. Seriously, I always smile whenever I read it since reviews like yours keep me going.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Transformers or any other recognizable media in any way, shape, form, or deviation.

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Nightmares**

—Dream, Lunick's PoV—

" _Show no mercy for you shall receive none!" barked the training instructor as he circled around the class of sixteen like a hawk, cold, black eyes watching for any signs of weakness._

 _None of the young men or women—teens really—present so much as twitched. Each individual just stood immaculately at parade rest, staring blankly ahead at the person opposite of them on the training mat, eyes showing no recognition whatsoever. It was like they were all merely machines...or had been turned to stone._

" _Out there, you can only trust yourself!" he continued to bellow like the drill sergeant he essentially was. He continued to pace, only to stop less than a foot away from Lunick. Those cold, soulless pits bore right into him, making his skin crawl though he refused to react. One wrong move and he'd disappear. "Not even your team," the instructor growled lowly, right into Lunick's ear, though everyone heard him anyways._

 _For a moment, he lingered, eyes watching, like he scented weakness, before turning abruptly and rounding on the other students. The man regarded them all with that default cold intelligence, eyes falling on certain, particular pairs. It was like he knew exactly who wouldn't be making it through his rigorous training program._

 _He continued to circle._

" _Everything and everyone else is the enemy!"_

 _This time, as his voice rang out, the scene around them seem to be put on fast forward._

" _And it is your job to strike first before they do!"_

 _Everything was a blur, and Lunick watched as, one by one, pairs aged before they started disappearing, fading away at random. First one, then two, then six more, pretty soon only four pairs remained before they too disappeared and only one pair remained: Lunick and his sister._

 _All of a sudden, the man rounded, and Lunick swore the man was looking straight into his soul._

" _Or you will die."_

* * *

—Jazz's PoV—

Meeting the twins was an experience and a half for him. Of course, that might be a bit of an exaggeration as he could have easily experienced something even crazier in his lifetime. However, with a large portion of his memories MIA until further notice, he was more than inclined to say that for the time being until proven otherwise.

And really, it wasn't much of a stretch either. After all, he had woken up in some kind of cave with no memories except for faint wisps, basic knowledge, and his name, which was Jazz. Then there was the organic—human, his subconscious corrected—twins, Lunick and Solana, who had apparently had something to do with waking him up. They seemed alright, or at least the mech did; the femme not so much. For some reason, she seemed to loathe his very existence, unwelcoming and openly hostile towards him unlike her twin. Anyways, directly after clearing up their little misunderstanding and getting to know each other a little, the three of them had escaped the collapsing cavern together, climbing up a rock shaft to the surface. Of course, the fact that he had helped saved their lives still had not improved his relationship with Solana in the slightest. And after some rather harsh and demanding words on her part, he and the twins had parted ways from there.

However, as he watched them get father and farther away, an uncomfortable feeling settled into his spark. There was just something _wrong_ about watching the duo walk away from him didn't settle right with him. Maybe it was because they were the first beings he saw when he awoke, so he had formed some kind of attachment to them. But Jazz couldn't on good conscience just let the duo go just like that. Something in his spark had urged him to follow, so follow he did.

Thankfully, he still remembered how to transform and had an alt-mode to boot.

It was lucky he did because when he finally located them again, they were being chased by some organic mechs that Jazz didn't like the look of at all.

Speaking of which, he _still_ had yet to ask the twins about those men. Though, now that he considered it, he probably wouldn't get much with Solana around.

In any case, he had rescued them, zipping onto the scene with an amount of flair and style that made him want to smile at the familiar dramatics before disappearing again in a squeal of tires. The twins' surprise at his arrival had been even more amusing, though he admittedly could have done without the heated glare the femme had shot him. That had looked downright terrifying; and he got the impression that despite her size, she could just as easily melt him to molten slag if given the chance. Still, it was nice that he had finally been allowed to come along after that. Sure, Solana had been more than reluctant to agree about this arrangement, but Jazz wasn't complaining. Somehow, this just felt right to him, like this was where he was supposed to be or something.

 _Speaking of which..._

He shifted his focus on the two forms curled up inside his alt-mode. He couldn't exactly so much as 'see' the twins like humans did, as sense them; it was hard to describe the experience to anyone who wasn't cybertronian. In any case, the two hadn't moved much aside from the fact that Lunick was now napping in his driver's seat while Solana stubbornly insisted on remaining awake, stating that one of them had to stay awake and keep watch, though he knew it was just because she didn't trust him yet. But he could tell that she was having trouble staying awake, struggling even as she shuttered her optics slowly. The duration of which they stayed closed becoming longer and longer as her chin got closer to her chassis before she snapped her helm back up.

It amused him a bit to watch her attempts to stay awake like that, but he would never openly admit it to her faceplates for fear of being brutally mauled. Soon, she would succumb to recharge he knew, so he didn't bother her, focusing back on the road.

Of course, that may have been the wrong thing to do as his processor wandered down other paths. Questions formed in his mind, but none held any of answers he was looking for.

Who was he?

What was he doing here?

Why had he been in that cave?

Was there anyone else like him here on this planet?

Did anyone know about him?

Did he have any friends that could help?

Why couldn't he remember anything about his past?

He just knew so little about himself it was frankly unnerving. All he remembered was bits and pieces and nothing very solid aside from general information like his name, species, etc. Sometimes, when he didn't think so much about his bits of missing memory, he could imagine feeling the memories sitting there, waiting for him but just out of his reach, so he would only get wisps, nothing solid though. Again, infuriating and just plain terrifying.

Feeling an odd tapping sensation, Jazz welcomed the distraction as he focused on the twitching form of Lunick. He was still asleep, but his once peaceful face was contorted in a small frown, optic ridges furrowed, like he was experiencing something unpleasant. As always, his frame was significantly cooler than his sister, who was the exact opposite and radiated heat like an overworked engine. However, as the twitching increased, the young mech's spar- er, heart rate picked up too, and the silver mech's concern grew.

* * *

—Dream, Lunick's PoV—

 _He was back in the Room again. They had separated he and his sister to perform separate experiments, stating that it was for the greater good of science. Lunick knew that was never a good sign. Separation only led to pain, pain, pain..._

 _His eyes darted around frantically, but there was no escape._

 _Sweat beaded on his brow in the hot red light, and he avoided touching the walls at all costs, knowing they too would be rigged. It was too hot. The room was so hazy. He felt faint, weak, unable to do much without sweating another gallon of precious water from his pores._

 _A burning smell reached his nostrils, and he looked to find his skin covered in heat rashes, blisters, and burns. His head pounded, and his body trembled lightly. Too hot. Too hot._

" _Lu."_

 _Blood pounded in his ears. He couldn't breathe. It was like all the oxygen was being sucked from the red-lit room._

" _Lunick."_

 _His skin sizzled as he lay there on the floor, but he could not get up. His entire body felt as though it was made of ten tons of lead._

" _Lunick! Wake up!"_

 _It was like he was trapped in a furnace or oven, getting baked to death. Flames seemed to intimately lick up and down his arms as he cooked like a fish in a pan._

" _LUNICK!"_

The male twin sat bolt upright in his seat, brow glistening and heart beating a mile a minute. His mind was still reeling from the terror the dream caused, and his blue-green eyes darted around frantically like he was still searching for that nonexistent exit. Finally, though, he realized that he wasn't in danger and met Solana's gaze. She was leaning in close from the seat next to him, and her own bright blue-greens were looking at him in concern, silently asking if he wanted to talk about it like she could sense what his inner turmoil had been about.

Controlling his breathing, he shook his head minutely. ' _Not now.'_

Of course, Jazz on the other hand, didn't seem to catch their silent conversation as he asked him in concern, "Heya, Lu, ya a'right?"

Lunick's lips twitched at that. It was just so refreshing to come across a being so obviously kind and caring. Not to mention that aside from being a freaking alien robot—how cool was that?—Jazz's quirky personality was fascinating, nothing like those humanoid 'robots' he and his sister had dealt with for ages.

Sure, his paranoid sister insisted on being outright suspicious of others—with admittedly good cause though—but Lunick was confident that he knew a bad person when he saw one. And Jazz wasn't bad (even if he was a freaking alien, which, again, was downright awesome in Lunick's book). After all, he had saved them, _twice_. Not to mention, the silver mech had had several chances of hurting them on multiple occasions, and they were still there.

Also, Lunick hadn't mentioned this to his sister, but he swore he had felt some kind of weird connection to the alien robot. He had thought he'd been imagining it, yet every time he was near the bot, something niggled at the back of his senses with a sense of _right_. It was weird if you asked him, and he didn't know what to make of it as he had never felt anything like it before. It was like he had finally obtained a key piece to a much larger image, though he still didn't know what it was. Maybe he was just going insane, as years of intense training could do that to you, but Lu swore that there was... _something_.

Anyways, the male twin shook his head in reply to the question. "I'll live," he stated, a little hoarsely, but saying little else after that, his tone a clear indicator that he did not want to talk about it.

Meeting his sisters gaze, she had this knowing look in her eyes as if picking up on the source of his turmoil.

' _Nightmares?_ ' she seemed to silently ask, tilting her head a smidge.

He dipped his chin a centimeter or so.

Nodding with a worn look on her face, Solana covered her mouth as she yawned hugely. He hadn't realized it until now, but she looked exhausted.

"Go to sleep sis. I'll keep an eye out if you like."

She raised a brow, even as she settled back. "You sure?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Get some rest." ' _Trust me I won't be going back to sleep anytime soon._ '

"Fine," she relented. "Wake me in a couple hours." She closed her eyes and seconds later her breathing evened out, fast asleep.

Figuring he might as well find a way to pass the time, Lunick struck up a conversation with Jazz, who seemed more than happy to talk with him, and doing his best to forget his nightmare.

* * *

—Later, Solana' PoV, Dream—

 _Snippets and shards of half-faded memories floated past her in the dark space. Some whispered, words hardly even intelligible if at all amid the low buzzing. Meanwhile, extremely foggy scenes played across each of the jagged mirror-like pieces, some images looking like nothing but shapeless blobs._

 _Looking around, her gaze fell on a slightly larger than average mirror shard which flickered every once in a while, garbled sound coming from it like a badly tuned radio. But as she got closer, she got these impressions of what was happening, of fearing for her life, of running, of being taken away from safety, of_ no-I-don't-want-to-go! _The worst part though was the feeling of being violently ripped away from something important._

 _She remembered crying, screaming for her mother and father. She had been happy at first, innocently enjoying the world around her. Then,_ they _had come, stealing her and Lunick away from home, safety, and_ parents _._

"… _Daddy! Help!"_

 _Struggling had been useless._ They _were too strong._

" _Hang on! Daddy's coming!"_

 _She could see a faceless man charging his way towards her and Lunick, fighting to save them. though she couldn't see his face, she got the impression of safety and comfort._

 _But whatever hope had existed was slowly dying as the man seemed to get farther and farther away instead of closer. Dread began to consume her as her throat began to hurt._

 _The man seemed to realize that too as one of the last things she heard before things faded was that final promise._

" _Wherever you are, I promise I will find you!"_

 _Blackness took over._

" _I love you!"_

Abruptly, Solana's eyes snapped open. She didn't jump or sit bolt upright. She just laid there, listening to the sound around her, feeling the motion of the vehicle, focusing on her senses rather than her racing heart and the leftover dregs of memory she had of the dream.

Part of Solana hated that dream. It always left her feeling downtrodden, remembering what she once had yet never in clear detail.

As it happened so long ago, neither Solana or Lunick remembered much of a life with their parents. All there was left was a couple foggy memories of happier and more innocent times. But that was so long ago, nearly thirteen years or so. In fact, as far as they knew, each other was all they had. They had no idea if their parents were even still alive or even looking for them for that matter.

All Lana personally remembered was a vague recollection of _that day_ , though she couldn't remember her parents faces ever. Whenever she had those dreams, she always imagined what her parents looked like, a new face smiling down at her each time she wondered about either of them, substituting in qualities she would have liked to have in a parent. Would they all share the same eyes? Or the same hare color? Would Lunick look like a mini version of their dad? Or would Sol look like their mother? Would they share other physical features and mannerisms? Or would they be a perfect mixture of both their parents? Or would they—

Recognizing the path her mind was going down, Lana shook herself a little before sitting up and greeting her brother with a nod. It didn't seem like she was going to get back to sleep anytime soon again.

* * *

—Later—

Ah, the joys of sibling infighting. Can't live with it, but life is always more entertaining while watching it.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" I prodded my brother for the second time, who was staring at the map once more.

He huffed, a sure sign of growing annoyance. "Of course I am."

"Your mouth says yes, but your eyes say no."

"Huh?" he asked, bewildered.

"So I'll ask you again: Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Are you sure you aren't just asking to annoy me?"

"Just answer the question. I asked you first anyways."

"No, you—"

"Fo' tha love of Primus, will you two shut up?!" Jazz exclaimed loudly, causing us to fall silent and look at the radio. The bot sighed exasperatedly, air rushing out of the A/C vents as he did so. "Yes, we're going da right way. We're just an hour out of Portland." We opened our mouths to speak but he cut us off. "No. No more talkin'. For tha rest of da drive, we're gon' shut our mouths an' play da quiet game. Unless it's urgent, we're not gonna talk whatsoever. Primus knows if you two open your mouths again, ya gonna start arguin'." He paused, seemingly pleased with the silence, then added, "Goo'. Now any questions?"

We both raised our hands like preschoolers, and Jazz groaned miserably.

"Wha' is it?"

"Are we there yet?" we asked in unison, sounding like impatient toddlers.

"I need to go to the bathroom."

"I'm hungry."

"How much longer Jazz?" we asked.

Jazz just groaned miserably, muttering something about 'sparklings'. Poor guy –er, bot. I almost felt bad for him since he was going to have to put up with us like this for a couple more hours yet. Almost.

* * *

—Location Unknown, Nightfall, Unknown PoV—

Alone in the dark of his room, a soldier sat on his bed. You couldn't see his features, but his posture was one of defeat and sadness. In his hands, he held a small photograph which he stared at with longing. It was a little worn out and bent out of its pristine shape, but it was still in good condition, as if the owner had made sure to take extra good care of it.

"I'm sorry."

His breath was shaky, as if he was crying as he stared at the people in the picture, all of them ignorant of what would occur less than a year after it was taken.

Fingers tracing the smiling features of the two young children—a near identical boy and a girl—in the picture, his heart ached with sadness and pain of loss. He could still remember that horrible day with impressive and horrifying clarity. It was the worst day of his life since he had failed as a father.

"I'm sorry," the soldier whispered to the photo. "I'm so sorry. I love you two, and I swear that no matter what, I am going to find you."

He just prayed that they were still somewhere out there, still alive and fighting.

* * *

Damn! And I just realized how heavy this chapter really is. Looks like I better update again soon if I want to keep any of ya'll left (whoever's left at all that is).

Anyways, please REVIEW, favorite, and follow, and have a wonderful rest of your day!


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